Small Ruminant Farmers' Training Needs in Karnataka as Perceived by Farmers and Veterinarians

An ex-post facto and exploratory study was conducted to assess the training needs of small ruminant (sheep and goat) farmers as perceived by them and field veterinarians with a sample size of 120 farmers and 66 field veterinarians in Davangere district of Karnataka state. A semi-structured pre-tested interview schedule was employed for small ruminant farmers and questionnaire for field veterinarians to collect the primary data in the study area. The training needs of small ruminant farmers in major six areas viz., breeding, feeding, health care, housing and management, marketing and finance and products preparation were assessed from the perspective of farmers and veterinarians. Within major areas of small ruminant farming, farmers and veterinarians perceived higher level of training needs in health care followed by feeding and marketing and finance. The study revealed that majority of the field veterinarians' perceived higher extent of training needs for the farmers than farmer themselves. Independent 't' test values depicted that veterinarians perceived higher extent of training needs for farmers in health care, products preparation and housing and management but farmers perceived higher training needs in marketing than field veterinarians.