Analysis of potentials and problems of dairy production in rainfed agro-ecosystem of India.

Rainfed agro-ecosystem occupies 68% of India’s cultivated area and supports 40% of the human and 65% of the livestock population. Dairy animals play an important role in the sustainable livelihood of poor people of rainfed agroecosystem, because of inherent risk involved in the crop farming due to uncertainty of rainfall and occurrence of recurrent droughts. The objective of the study was to characterize the status of smallholder dairy production systems in rainfed areas to generate information that would assist in designing of strategies for dairy development programmes. These objectives were achieved by adopting a participatory system approach, which uses diagnostic survey and techniques of participatory rural appraisal. The dairy production systems in rainfed areas are complex and generally based on traditional and socio-economic considerations mainly guided by available feed resources. Scarcity of feed and fodder resources, low production potential of animals, non-availability of critical inputs/services in time, access to capital and markets were the primary reasons behind low productivity of dairy animals. The study suggested that the participation of farmers is essential for developing and promoting the technical interventions. To enable the rainfed farmers for dairy development, a favourable policy environment in terms of access to micro-credit, assured market and veterinary services have to be provided and socio-economic and technical constraints needs to be addressed.