Dairying : Immense Scope to Women Work

Dairy development in India has taken place under a well known programme known as Operation Flood. Co-operative and private dairy being an integral part of the Operation Flood Programme, have played a major role in the production and marketing of milk. A study was carried out to estimate the contribution of dairy and crop production enterprise towards employment and income in relation to different herd size groups in Western Maharashtra of Maharashtra state. To assess the change in employment and income due to dairy enterprise the nondairy farmers were selected purposively from the three districts of the study area. The non-dairy sample cultivators were selected purposively for a sample of 90 consisting of 30 each of small, medium and large size groups having similar area holding of as like the selected milk producers. In order to it a comparative study a sample of 90 non-dairy cultivators who did not had any linkage with dairy enterprise, were taken randomly from selected villages of Western Maharashtra. The total employment of adult male was 313.95 days and for female 301.71 days for dairy households, respectively. Dairy enterprise has generated more employment of 21 per cent for male and 43 per cent for female. The total employment of adult male and adult female, at the overall level 297.19 days for male and for female 255.59 days, respectively of which 44 per cent for male and 34 per cent for female were derived from crop production enterprise. The proportion of income from dairy enterprises in the total farm income was relatively high on dairy sample households as compared to the non-dairy sample households. It was mainly due to the adoption of dairy enterprise that resulted into higher income. Dairy enterprise absorbs the major portion of the available labour force particularly the women. Therefore, the training programmes on dairy management for women be arranged.