Employment Generation through Dairy Farming in District Moradabad: A Case Study

The dairy sector in India is characterized by a smallholder production system of village based production units often consisting of one to three milking animals. Government agencies and policymakers of India have underlined the key role of dairy enterprise in terms of improving the socio-economic status of the rural poor by reducing the long standing problems of unemployment and underemployment. The present study was conducted in five villages of Moradabad District, Uttar Pradesh and entirely based on primary data. The study revealed that despite the involvement of large number of farmers the dairy farming is considered as the secondary occupation. The increasing demand for milk and milk products has resulted in the increase in milk production but low productivity per animal and unorganized channel of milk marketing is dominant in the study area. The employment generation is determined by with the landholding, caste, access to market, income from dairy enterprise and other socio-economic attributes. The major problems, faced by dairy farmers, are low pricing system, fodder crisis, absence of ready market, lack of veterinary services, exploitation by milkmen etc.