Goat marketing system in Rajasthan.

Abstract

The paper attempts to comprehend the goat marketing system in Rajasthan and analyze related development issues. The study in its sample covered a total of 120 goat keeping households with 60 each from Ajmer and Jaipur districts from eastern semiarid zone of Rajasthan along with 15 goat traders and 10 butchers. The farmers were not raising the male kids up to the economic age of slaughter. The share of kids of <3 months age (mostly male) was highest (39 percent) in the total sale of live goats by the farmers in a year. The farmers’ participation in the livestock market was very low. The sale of goats from farmers to different buyers in the village itself accounted for more than 75 percent of the total sale of live goats and only about 25 percent of the surplus goats were sold in the livestock markets. The goat marketing was characterized by high middlemen’s margin, pricing inefficiency, poor participation of farmers in the market, considerable transit losses, lack of access to market information, poor market infrastructure, no focus on food safety issues and no mechanism for regulation, monitoring and ensuring transparency in the livestock markets. Even one percent of the goat farmers were not satisfied with the existing system of marketing. The farmer’s share in consumer’s rupee varied from 65 to 76 % when the marketing channel ended within the state and it was less (58 to 60 %) when goats were exported to other states. The paper also describes the marketing behavior of farmers, marketing channels, existing goat markets and examines constraints in marketing of goats and draws policy suggestions for improvement in goat marketing system in Rajasthan.