Asian J. Dairy & Food Res.., 33 (2) : 147-153, 2014

AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATION CENTRE

www.arccjournals.com

doi:10.5958/0976-0563.2014.00592.2

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT THROUGH TRAINING IN DAIRY FARMING S.J. Jadav* , V. Durgga Rani, Sreeja Mudgal and H.B. Dhamsaniya Department of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Extension Education Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari–396 450, India

Received: 19-02-2013

Accepted: 27-11-2013 ABSTRACT

Woman empowerment is the process of building a woman’s capacity to be self-reliant and to develop her sense of inner strength. Dairying in India is a female dominated enterprise. It is established beyond doubt that women always participated in dairy and animal husbandry activities in addition to their daily household chores. Women spent more time than men in dairy production activities. Training is one of the important aspects of empowerment, which can enhance knowledge, improve skill and change the attitude of rural women. Selection of breed, compounding balanced feed using locally available ingredients, feeding during pregnancy, health care and banking and insurance were the most preferred areas of training in dairy farming. The overall adoption level of the trained dairy farm women was higher than untrained dairy farm women.

Key words: Dairy Farming, Training impact, Training needs, Women empowerment. Empowerment is the process through which an individual perceives that he/she controls his or her situation. Empowerment is a process of creating awareness and capacity building, leading to greater participation, greater decision making power, control and transformation action (Suguna, 2001). Human resource is the most important asset of any nation and calls for mobilization to be used as an instrumental force for attaining the developmental goals. The contribution of women to national development in the current context and its potential is of greater significance. Involvement of Indian women in national progress at all levels is an indisputable reality, although the degree of involvement varies from time to time and region to region. It also varies within a region; their involvement varies among different farming systems, castes, classes and socio- economic status (Swaminathan, 1985). It is not an exaggeration, that women in India are the backbone of food security. They are playing a significant and crucial role in agricultural development and allied fields including crop and livestock production, horticulture, post harvest operations, social forestry, fisheries etc. (Chayal and Dhaka, 2010). The prosperity and

growth of a nation depend on the status and development of its women as they not only constitute nearly half of the population, but also positively influence the growth of the remaining half of the population. Dairy farming is considered as an extension of domestic activities like–feeding and watering of animals, bringing of fodder from the field, cleaning of animals and sheds, preparation of cow-dung cakes, protection of animal from diseases, milking, milk products making and marketing of milk. Dairying in India is a female dominated enterprise (Fulzele and Meena, 1995). It is established beyond doubt that women always participated in dairy and animal husbandry activities in addition to their daily household chores (Belurkar et al., 2003). About 75 million women as against 15 million men engage in dairying in India (Thakur and Chander, 2006). Many of the important tasks in animal husbandry activities are performed by women besides fulfilling their responsibilities as home makers. Women play crucial and significant role in livestock rearing, but their contribution in livestock rearing has not been given the due place they deserve. They always remain invisible workers (Chayal et al., 2009). Though

* Corresponding author’s e-mail: [email protected]

148

ASIAN JOURNAL OF DAIRY & FOOD RESEARCH

much of the work of livestock farming is carried out by women, training programmes are not generally designed for greater involvement of women and extending benefits to them. The performance of developmental roles more efficiently and effectively by women call for specialized knowledge and skill up gradation based on their training needs. The importance of trai ning dai ry farmwomen is progressively realized all over the world. Venugopalan (1992) emphasized that considering women’s involvement in a wide range of activities it is evident that their production potentials can be realized only if women get the necessary training, technical knowhow and support. Training is one of the commonly used devices to improve the knowledge and skill of the trainees. Training is viewed as an investment of human resources. This investment has the potentialities in transforming the group of dairy farm women who by accident come together to accomplish a common goal. Training provides a systematic improvement of knowledge and skills which in turn helps the trainees to function effectively and efficiently in their given task on completion of the training (Sajeev et al., 2012). Most of the works related to livestock farming are looked after by rural women, but their knowledge about the technology related to various aspects of livestock farming is very low. In the implementation of development programmes, special role for women beneficiaries are increasingly being identified. This effort requires special emphasis on training of women beneficiaries (Parthasarathy et al., 2006). Need based training programme acts as a catalyst for increasing the motivational level of trainees who in turn try to put their sincere efforts to learn and gain maximum from the training program (Yadav et al., 2007).

observed that the majority of the farm women were involved in compost making (73.33 percent), milking of animals (70 per cent) and weaning and management of calf (66.66 per cent). Rathod et al., (2011) reported that women performed activities like milking (90 per cent), cleaning of animal sheds (89.16 per cent) and disposal of cow dung or preparation of cow dung cakes (86.66 per cent). About 75.83 per cent of the farm women were involved in the construction of animal sheds (Toppo et al., 2004 and Rathod et al., 2011). Average time spent by farm women in dairy production: Most of the activities of dairy farm were carried out by women so they spent more time compared to men in dairy production. Farm women spent about 294.34 min. daily in different dairy farm activities like feeding, watering, milking, housing, breeding, animal health care and marketing (John Christy and Thirunavukkarasu, 2002). The time spent by women was maximum in case of collection of fodder (254.68 hr/year) and bringing of fodder (132.07 hr/year), because cutting and collecting activity was performed only fortnightly and the amount of fodder required for the cattle was brought twice a week (Kishtwaria et al., 2009). Women spend 2.2 hours/day/household in animal care activities. Men contributed about 50 per cent of the labour involved in grazing activity only. All other activities such as cleaning shed, milking, harvest and transport of grass for livestock was performed exclusively by women (Johnson et al., 2013). Farm women spent more time in most of dairy activities as compared to men (Table 1).

Decision making behaviour of women in dairy activities: Fodder management, sale of milk and health care of animals were important areas where farm women played a major role in decision-making. Participation of women in different dairy farm The participation of farm women was least in the activities: In India, majority of dairy farm women economic activities like taking loans, purchase and participated in the care of newborn calf, milking, sale of animals and choosing animals for dairy. cleaning of animal shed, cleaning of utensils, weaning Because of traditional Indian culture, the decision and management of calf, preparation of cow dung regarding economics aspects has been taken by cakes and construction of animal sheds but their men. Moreover, farm women have less contact with participation was least in maintenance of farm progressive farmers, officials and banks. This was records. Involvement of farm women in the care of also the reason for low level of involvement in newborn calf and cleaning of utensils and shed was decision-making (Upadhyay and Desai, 2011). 100 percent (Uma Sah et al., 2006; Chayal et al., Activities related to feeding dairy animals are 2009 and Lahoti et al., 2012). Lahoti et al., (2012) normally performed by farm women except taking

Vol. 33, No. 2, 2014

149

TABLE 1: Average time spent by farm women in various dairy activities Hours/year Dairy Operations Milking Milk processing Milk marketing Collection of bedding, fodder and feeding animals Tending to grazing animals Tending to calf Tending to sick animals Taking cows and buffaloes to service Cleaning of dairy shed All Operations

Women

Men

183 183 61 730 547 12 4 3 56 1779

122 183 8 2 315 (Vir Singh and Tulachan, 2001)

animals for grazing and chaffing the fodder (Sarma and Payeng, 2012). Most of the decisions regarding various dairy farm operations like Purchase of animals, feed, Breeding, No. of animal to be kept, Marketing and Spending money were taken by male members alone. Women were least involved in decisions regarding dairy farm activities. The reasons for low participation in decision making were because of the patriarchal type of society, illiteracy of women and low knowledge and skill (Lalitha and Seethalakshmi, 2001). Training needs of dairy farm women: Training is an organized activity aimed at imparting knowledge, skills, and competencies to a person for improving his/her performance or to help him or her to arrive at a required level of knowledge or skill (Jacob and George, 2013). It plays an important role in the advancement of human performance in a given situation and also provides a systematic improvement of knowledge and skills which in turn helps the trainees to function effectively and efficiently in their given task on completion of the training. Effective training requires a clear picture of how the trainees will need to use information after training in place of local practices what they have adopted before in their situation (Sajeev et al., 2012).

Training in technologies relevant to livestock management enhances knowledge and skills in animal rearing practices, disease management, and feed management, which eventually improve income to the household (Nirmala et al., 2012). Training needs of farm women in different dairy farm activities: Dairy farm women needed training in various animal husbandry activities (Table 2). They needed training the most in balanced diet of animals, deworming, clean milk production, maintenance of cattle shed, purchase of animals, etc. Balanced feeding ranked highest in information need as compared to breedi ng, marketi ng, management of cattle shed, etc. Since the major farm operations of breeding, health care, marketing and finance require outside contact, the involvement of farm women was less. This might be the reason for the farm women to perceive these major farm operations as the least preferred areas of training (Singh et al., 2001 and Sreehari et al., 2012). Madivanane (1990) also found that maintenance of cattle shed ranked as second for getting training in livestock keeping. Hundred percent of the farm women needed training in purchase of animals, maintenance of cattle shed and processing of milk (Sumathi and Alagesan, 2001). In case of different

TABLE 2: Training need of rural women in animal husbandry activities Training areas Deworming Balanced diet of animals Shed management Safe and clean milk production Milking methods Silage making

Total score

Training need Mean score

Most needed

Needed

Not needed

76 68 80 76 29 25

84 77 52 50 36 35

80 95 108 114 175 180

236 213 212 202 94 85

0.98 0.88 0.88 0.84 0.39 0.35 (Yadav et al., 2007)

150

ASIAN JOURNAL OF DAIRY & FOOD RESEARCH

dairy farm activities rural women expressed their training need in descending order of animal health and disease control precautions, milk production, animal hygiene and management, common diseases of milking animals, vaccination schedule and preparation of silage (Nikhade et al., 2005 and Kathiriya et al., 2010). About forty per cent of rural women noted that they needed training in the areas of preparation of hay, animal breeding and care, use of chaff cutter, feeding and care of newborn calves, production of good quality fodder (Singh et al., 2005). Also in some particular aspects of dairy husbandry like care of sick animals, care of calves, preparation of concentrate mixture and value addition of milk products (Lavania et al., 2009). They also needed training in castration of calf, care at calving, proper design of cattle shed and construction of scientific low cost cattle shed (Fulzele and Meena, 1995; Durgga and Subhadra, 2009). Feeding and management: The highest training need for both knowledge and skill was to compounding balanced feed using locally available ingredients. The high cost of concentrates might have compelled the farm women to know and learn the mixing of locally available ingredients which in turn would reduce the feed cost (Durgga and Subhadra, 2009). Majority of dairy farm women perceived knowledge about balanced feeding, clean water for drinking and feeding of pregnant animal as the most needed areas of training (Fulzele and Meena, 1995). Breeding: Selection of breeds ranked first for both knowledge and skill oriented training needs. Majority of dairy farm women perceived selecting a suitable breed as one of the primary factors in achieving productivity in dai ry animals (Durgga and Subhadra, 2009). Other important areas of training were time of insemination and artificial insemination (Fulzele and Meena, 1995).

Marketing and Finance: Farm women needed training most in the banking and insurance for both knowledge and skill. This might be because the farm women had limited information regarding the various sources from which they could obtain financial assistance and also about the insurance policies (Durgga and Subhadra, 2009). Time, method of training, place and duration of training preferred by farm women are shown in Table 3. TABLE 3: Time, method, venue and duration of training preferred by farm women Particulars Time of training January to March April to June July to September October to December Method of training Method demonstration Lecture and field trips Lecture and discussion Group discussion Study tour Exhibition Training venue KVK In their village District/ Taluka H.Q. Duration of training 1 Day 2-3 Day 4-5 Day One week and above

Yes

No

8.0 100.0 20.0 12.0

92.0 80.0 88.0

100.0 10.0 28.0 76.0 16.0 12.0

90.0 72.0 24.0 74.0 88.0

20.0 100.0 24.0

80.0 76.0

30.0 100.0 20.0 8.0

70.0 80.0 92.0 (Raju et al., 1999)

Time, method, place, duration preference for training: Majority of dairy farm women were ready for obtaining training in any season, using various extension methods such as demonstration, group discussion, lecture, etc. They preferred training once in a year at their village preferably in the afternoon hours (Durgga, 2009). About 96.67 per cent of rural women preferred their villages as a venue for training, H ealth care: Majority of dairy farm women whereas 3.3 per cent women preferred venue outside perceived diagnosis of common diseases and vaccination as the most needed areas of training their village. The majority of the rural women were (Fulzele and Meena, 1995). Regarding health care, in favour of more than one week training period vaccination was ranked first for knowledge need and (43.33 per cent), followed by less than 2 days (25 symptoms of common diseases with respect to skill per cent) and 5 days to one week (21.67 per cent) need. Farm women were interested to know about duration of training. As far as time is concerned, the control and identification of important diseases majority of them (68.3 per cent) preferred afternoon (Umarani and Thangamani, 2000; Das and Mishra, hours for training, while 18.3 per cent, 13.3 per cent 2002; Gupta and Tripathi, 2002 and Durgga and and 6.67 per cent preferred forenoon, morning and evening hours, respectively. About 51.67 per cent of Subhadra, 2009).

Vol. 33, No. 2, 2014

the rural women were ready in any season for obtaining training, while 30 per cent, 18.3 per cent and 16.67 per cent of them preferred winter, summer and monsoon season respectively. The combination of lecture + group discussi on + method demonstration was preferred the most, followed by a lecture + slide show (25 percent) and result demonstration (7 per cent) (Mustafa et al., 2005). Training impact: Trained dairy farm women possessed very high knowledge on all the individual practices, whereas the majority of the untrained dairy farm women had very poor knowledge about many crucial management practices like colostrum feeding, health check-up, deworming of calves, enrichment of dry fodder, silage preparation, feeding pregnant and milking cows, insurance and maintenance of records. Most of the trained dairy farm women were exposed to vari ous knowledge enhancing programmes such as social participation, mass media participation, high literacy level, large land holdings, having crossbred cows, and exposure to training programmes enabling them to gain greater knowledge of all critical management practices whereas, the untrained dairy farm women had poor knowledge about crucial management practices due to lack of exposure. The majority of the trained dairy farm women had adopted all the important scientific dairy management practices, whereas the adoption of many cruci al management practices like crossbred cows, colostrum feeding, deworming of calves, enrichment of dry fodder, silage preparation, feeding pregnant and milking cows, health checkup, maintenance of records and insurance by untrained dairy farm women was very meager. This is quite natural as they were having poor knowledge of these practices; hence they were reluctant to adopt them in their farming. Lack of participation in social and mass media and lower education level have also contributed to poor adoption of important practices resulting in poor milk yield and economic returns (H alakatti et al., 2007). Training has made tremendous change and interest among the trainees to gain more knowledge probably due to usage of method demonstration, audio visual aids and also their own different livestock species such as dairy, sheep, goat and poultry; they could easily understand and remember the technologies taught in the training. Further, training if conducted frequently would increase the level of knowledge, which in turn reflects

151

into better livestock farming and management and ultimately increases livestock production (Yasothai et al., 09). The extent of knowledge among the trained group of rural women about breeding practices was as high as 74.72 per cent, whereas in untrained group the knowledge was only 50.0 per cent. The extent of knowledge with respect to feeding practices among the trained group was as high as 90.67 per cent, whereas, in untrained group it was found to be 70.72 per cent. In management practices the extent of knowledge was 86.28 and 54.58 per cent among the trained and untrained groups, respectively. The knowledge about health care aspect in trained group was observed to the extent of 61.48 per cent whereas, in untrained group it was only 37.78 per cent. A similar trend was also observed in trained (48.14 per cent) and untrained groups (29.0 per cent) regarding milk products. This showed that the increase in the level of knowledge was due to training imparted to the farm women and as a result of training there was a clear cut demarcation of knowledge level between trained and untrained group (Devi et al., 2008). CONCLUSION Dairying in India is a female dominated enterprise. Selection of breed, compounding balanced feed using locally available ingredients, feeding during pregnancy, health care and banking and insurance were the most preferred area of training in dairy farming. Majority of the farm women preferred training during April to June, once in a year, for 2-3 days, during afternoon hours and in their village. Trained dairy farm women possessed very high knowledge on all the individual practices, whereas majority of the untrained dairy farm women had very poor knowledge about many crucial management practices. Training improved overall knowledge and adoption of farm women. Success in dairy farming improved the socio-economic status and the position of the farm women in their home and village. To empower the rural dairy farm women more number of training should be conducted in areas like selection of breed, health care, banking and insurance. Preferences of the farm women for method, duration, interval, time and place of training should be kept in mind while planning training programmes. Efforts should be made to reduce the time lag in adoption by providing financial and technical assistants.

152

ASIAN JOURNAL OF DAIRY & FOOD RESEARCH

REFERENCES

Belurkar, G.M., Wakle, P.K. and Gholve, M.A. (2003). A study on decision making pattern and participation of rural women in animal husbandry and dairying enterprise. Maha. J. Ext. Edu., 22(2): 81-85. Chayal, K. and Dhaka, B.L. (2010). Analysis of role performance of women in farm activities. Indian Res. J. Ext. Edu., 10(2): 109-112. Chayal, K., Daaka, B.L. and Suwalka, R.L. (2009). Analysis of role performed by farm women in dairy farming. Indian. J. Dairy. Sci., 62: 491-494. Das, L. and Mishra, S.K. (2002). Training needs of tribal women in farm and home activities. Agricultural Ext. Rev., 14(2): 3-6. Devi, R., Sangwani, S.S., Singh, S.P. and Kumar, R. (2008). Impact of training in terms of knowledge of rural women about animal husbandry practices. Haryana Vet., 47:19-23. Durgga, R.V. (2009). Training needs of farm women of Thrissur taluka in dairy and poultry farming. M.V.Sc. Thesis, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. Durgga, R.V. and Subhadra, M.R. (2009). Training needs of farm women in dairy farming. Veterinary World., 2(6): 221-223. Fulzele, R.M. and Meena, B.L. (1995). Training needs of dairy tribal women. Indian. J. Dairy Sci., 48: 551-553. Gupta, M. and Tripathi, H. (2002). Assessment of training needs of rural women in dairy enterprise. Indian J. Dairy Sci., 55(3): 178-182. Halakatti, S.V., Sajjan, C.M., Gowda, D.S.M. and Vijaylaxmi, K. (2007). Empowerment of women through dairy training. Karnataka. J. Agric. Sci., 20(1): 89-92. Jacob, S.K. and George, A. (2013). Assessing the training need of dairy farmers on scientific cattle management practices. International J. Scientific Res., 2(7): 496-497. John, C.R. and Thirunavukkarasu, M. (2002). Role of farm women in livestock keeping. Indian Dairyman., 54: 35-40. Johnson, J.N., Govindaradjane, S. and Sundararajan, T. (2013). The role of rural women in watershed development project. International J. Engineering Sci. and Innovative Technology., 2(1): 540-544. Kathiriya, J.B., Viadiya, M.B. and Polara, N.D. (2010). Training needs of dairy farming women and constraints faced by rural women: A case study of Gujarat. J. Progressive Agriculture., 1(1):87-88. Kishtwaria, J., Rana, A. and Sood, S. (2009). Work Pattern of Hill Farm Women –A Study of Himachal Pradesh. Stud Home Comm Sci., 3(1): 67-70. Lahoti, S.R., Chole, S.R. and Rathi, N.S. (2012). Role of women in dairy farming. Indian J. Dairy Sci., 65(5): 442-446. Lalitha, N. and Seethalakshmi, M. (2001). Decision making behaviour of women in dairy sector - a micro study. J. of Ext. and Res., 3: 63-67. Lavania, P., Pagaria, P. and Gupta, S. (2009). Training needs of farm women in dairy husbandry in Thar desert. Current Agriculture., 33(1/2): 91-93. Madivanane, S. (1990). A study on training needs of farm women in Karaikal region of Pondicherry. Unpublished M.Sc. (agri) Thesis, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 202. Mustafa, S., Dabas, Y.P.S., Kumar, A. and Bardhan, D. (2005). A study of training needs of rural women towards improved dairy farming practices. J. Dairying, Foods & H.S., 24(2): 101 -104. Nikhade, D.M. and Patki, A. (2005). Training needs of rural women and difficulties encountered in performance of animal husbandry practices. International. J. Extn. Edu., 1:77-82. Nirmala, G., Ramana, D.B.V. and Venkateswarlu, B. (2012). Women and scientific livestock management: Improving capabilities through participatory action research in semi arid areas of south India. APCBEE Procedia., 4:152 -157. Parthasarathy, R., Sathiamoorthy, T., Kathirchelvan, M. and Kavitha, C. (2006). Study on the effectiveness of training in technology transfer among farm women. Tamilnadu J. Vet. and Animal Sci., 2: 205-207. Raju, L.D., Nataraju, M.S. and Niranjan, M. (1999). Women in animal production an ex-post-facto analysis. Agricultural Ext. Rev., 11(3): 3-8. Rathod, P.K., Nikam, T.R., Sariput, L., Vajreshwari, S. and Amit, H. (2011). Participation of rural women in dairy farming in Karnataka. Indian Res. J. Ext. Edu., 11(2): 31-35. Sajeev, M.V., Singha, A.K. and Venkatasubramanian, V. (2012). Training Needs of Farmers and Rural Youth: An Analysis of Manipur State. India. J. Agri. Sci., 3(2): 103-112. Sarma, J. and Payeng, S. (2012). Women dairy farmers and decision making pattern in Sonitpur District of Assam. Indian J. Hill Farming., 25(1):58-62. Singh, B., Mondal, B.C., Yadav, N.D. and Beniwal, R.K. (2005). Technological constraints in mixed farming system in Bikaner district of Rajasthan: A case study. Annals of Arid Zone., 44(1): 105- 108. Singh, M., Mishra, S. and Rani, S. (2001). Training needs of rural women. India J. Ext. Edu., 37(1&2): 92-94.

Vol. 33, No. 2, 2014

153

Sreehari, S., Gulati, H.K. and Varma, A.K. (2012). Analysis of information needs for developing a media protocol in selected districts of Haryana in animal husbandry practices. J. India Vet. Assoc., 10(1): 31-37. Suguna, (2001). Social Welfare. 48: 3-7. Sumathi, P. and Alagesan, V. (2001). Training need of farm women in integrated farming system. J. Ext. Edu., 11(4): 2972-2973. Swaminathan, M.S. (1985). Imparting of Rural Women User Perspective to Agricultural Research and Development. IRRI Phillippines. Thakur, D. and Chandar, M. (2006). Gender based differential access to information among Livestock owners and it’s impact on house hold milk production in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh. Indian. J. Dairy. Sci., 59(6): 401-404. Toppo, A., Trivedinand, M.S. and Patel, A. (2004). Participation of farm women in dairy occupation. Gujarat. J. Ext.Edu., 15(2):15-21. Uma sah., Shantanu, K. and Fulzele, R.M. (2006). Perceived needs of dairy farmers and farm women related to improved dairy farming in India- an overview. Agric. Rev., 23(1): 65 – 70. Umarani, K. and Thangamani, K. (2000). Technological needs of women in dairying. J. Ext. Edu., 11(2): 2812- 2814. Upadhyay, S. and Desai, C.P. (2011). Participation of farm women in animal husbandry in Anand District of Gujarat. J. Community Mobilization and Sustainable Development., 6(2): 117-121. Venugopalan, M. (1992). Training need of rural women in home science, Agricultural and A.H. activities. Ext. Rev., 4: 27-29. Vir Singh and Tulachan, P.M. (2001). Gender contribution to smallholder dairy Production in Uttaranchal. ENVIS Bulletin., 9(2): 42-43. Yadav, B., Goel, R., Dahiya, R. and Kundu, P. (2007). Training need of rural women in home science, agricultural and animal husbandry activities. J. Dairying, Foods & H. S., 26: 137-140. Yasothai, R., Gopala, T.R., Murthy, K. and Shamsudeen, P. (2009). Profile of women trainees in livestock farming. Tamilnadu J. Veterinary & Animal Sci., 5(2) 51-55.