Verghese Kurien Centre of Excellence (VKCoE)
Verghese Kurien Centre of Excellence (VKCoE)
Gujarat plays a significant role in milk production, where it contributes 7.69% of the total milk production of the country. The state ranked fifth in terms of milk production among all states and union territories in the country, during 2017-18. Various organizations such as a large network of dairy cooperative societies (DCS), well-structured cooperative federation, Gujarat cooperative milk marketing federation (GCMMF) associated with the famous dairy brand – Amul, and an apex dairy institution, national dairy development board (NDDB) have played a major role in enhancing the milk production in the state of Gujarat. Apart from these organizations, the state government has initiated a unique and specialized institution called Dairy Vigyan Kendra (DVK) to promote dairy farming in the backward region of Panchamahal district under the stewardship of Anand Agriculture University (AAU). The foremost objective of DVK is to impart training to a dairy farmer of various sections of the society in the operational areas so that they can improve their socio-economic conditions through milk production. The study aims to examine the impact of DVK intervention on socio-economic status of the beneficiary farmers of Panchamahal district, in terms of overall per-capita income of dairy farming households, milk production, income from milk and herd size. In this regard, the study has employed regression analysis and t-test to obtain the results of the study. The graphical analysis shows that more than 93% of farmers are happy with DVK training undertaken in Panchamahal district. In Panchamahal district, monthly per capita income (PCI) increased from Rs.2250 in 2014 to Rs.3538 in 2018 while in Dahod, PCI increased from Rs.3422 in 2014 to Rs.3581. In addition, PCI from milk and dairy also increased in both districts. Moreover, income from dairy of the social groups also increased in both districts. The results confirm that DVK training has significantly increased the overall per-capita income of dairy farming households. It can be seen that, post DVK intervention, there has been a significant increase in the income from milk of the dairy farming households in Panchamahal district, which is greater than that of Dahod district as the farmers are significantly benefitting from the services provided by DVK.