Economic Analysis of Dairy Farms in Amravati District

The investigation was undertaken on the topic entitled "Economic Analysis of Dairy Farms in Amravati district." with view to study the socio-economic characteristics of selected farmers, investment pattern, economics and constraint faced by farmers of dairy farms. Data on size of land holding, cropping pattern, fodder availability, milch animal owned, average milk production per day per animal, composition of herd size, educational status of head of family, family structure was collected. On the basis of high cattle population fifteen villages from three tehsil's of Amravati district were selected. The information was collected from sample of 90 dairy farmers selected by random sampling technique in a pretested questionnaire. The data were analysed with simple tabular analysis.The study revealed that the average size of family members were 4.89, 4.54 and 4.61 members for small, medium and large groups of dairy farmer, respectively and Jowar crop was the major source of fodder in combination with green grasses and maize. The annual maintenance cost of local cow and crossbreed cow was Rs.31440.74 and Rs.40969.36, respectively, while annual maintenance cost of local buffalo and improved buffalo was Rs.37780.30 and Rs.44930.51, respectively. The annual maintenance cost of local buffalo and improved buffalo was more than local cow and crossbreed cow. Feed and fodder was the major items of expenditure in milk production. Overall gross income, net cost and net income per animal per year was Rs.32870.00, Rs.29890.74 and Rs.1429.26, respectively in case of local cow. And for crossbreed cow these were Rs.60000.00, Rs.34779.80 and Rs.22419.70. Overall gross income, net cost and net income per animal per year was Rs.47100.50, Rs.34779.80 and Rs.9320.20 for local buffalo, respectively. And for improved buffalo these were Rs.70500.00, Rs.40930.51 and Rs.25569.49 per year, respectively. Out of 90 dairy farm owners 50 per cent dairy farmer faced problem of dry fodder, 83.33 per cent farmer faced problem of green fodder, 77.77 per cent farmers faced problem of concentrates and 27 per cent dairy farmer faced problem of drinking water.