Cost of conservation of indigenous dairy cattle breed—A case of Sahiwal in India

Conservation of indigenous cattle breeds is now getting much needed attention from the Government. Understanding the perception of dairy farmers and estimation of conservation cost is very important for designing effective conservation policies. Present study attempts to address the same with specific reference to Sahiwal breed. Primary data was collected from 168 dairy farmers spread over prominent breeding tract of Sahiwal in India. Relevant secondary information was collected from ABRC, NDRI and from companies dealing with reproduction technologies. Garrett’s ranking, dichotomous choice CVM and cost analysis were used for analyzing the collected data. Subsidy on purchase price, higher price for milk and ensured availability of pure breed figured out as the most essential requirement for rearing Sahiwal cattle. WTA estimates were lowest for Sri Ganganagar indicating that if in situ conservation is done in this area it will cost comparatively less to the Government. Cost per insemination and cost per conception in Sahiwal worked out to be ` 95.97 and ` 191.94, respectively.