DAIRY FARMING PRACTICES: A BETTER WAY TO INVOLVEMENT OF TRIBAL WOMEN IN NARMADA DISTRICT

A survey based study was carried out to ascertain the role and involvement of tribal women in dairy farming, using a pretested interview schedule by personal interview for sample size of 160 rural women in Narmada district, Gujarat (India). The socio-personal study revealed that majority of the women were middle aged (46.87) in joint families (75%) with 41.25 per cent being literates. Most of the respondent families were marginal farmers (37.50 %) with low annual family income (61.87 %) having agriculture (46.87 %) as the major occupation. About 30 operations of dairy farming were selected in consultation with experts and were broadly categorized into six aspects as feeding, management, breeding, health care, processing. The study shows that women involvement was maximum in caring of pregnant animals (71.87) followed by care of new born and sick animals (68.75 % & 65.62). The tribal women actively involved in disposal of cow dung (100%), cleaning of animal sheds (81.25%), taking animals for grazing (63.75%) The tribal women involvement showed least in tribal record maintenance (6.25%).The study concluded that women involved mostly in non-financial activities and there is a need to educate tribal women about scientific management practices for increasing livestock production.