Economic analysis of milk production in Himalayan state of India

This study was conducted to analyse the profitability of milk production from indigenous and crossbred species and to identify the constraints for technically efficient dairying in the Himachal Pradesh state. Primary data was collected during 2020-2021 from 360 dairy farming households. Tabular analysis was employed to work out the profitability of milk production and Garrett's Ranking Technique (GRT) was performed to identify constraints faced by dairy farmers. The overall gross cost for Indigenous cattle was ₹. 108 per standard animal unit (SAU) per day. Whereas, crossbred cattle accounts double the maintenance cost of indigenous species (₹. 206.02). The average daily milk yield for crossbred (6.41 liters/ day/SAU) and for Indigenous (2.42 litres /day/ SAU). The net returns per SAU per animal in case of crossbred cattle in overall category was ₹ 8.59, whereas, net returns were highest for large category farms (₹ 9.70 per liter), followed by medium and least for small category farmers i.e., ₹ 7.60 and ₹ 6.80 respectively. In study area farmers were facing major constraint were lack of organized milk marketing facility at village level (65.84) followed by non-availability of green fodder throughout the season (64.23) followed by incidence of reproductive disorder (62.00), low productivity of animals (57.30) and less availability of land for fodder cultivation (58.28) in the state.