Measuring Perceptions on Recommended Dairy Innovations by Dairy Farmers of Andhra Pradesh

Abstract

The present investigation focused on the perceived attribute, relative advantage, of the nine recommended dairy innovations selected for the study viz., Package of practices for feeding and management of heifers, pregnant and lactating animals; Formulation and feeding of complete feed blocks; Feeding of area specific mineral mixture; Cultivation and feeding of hydroponic fodder; Cultivation and feeding of Azolla; Strategies for enhancement of milk yield and quality; Use of milking machine; Marketing strategies to improve milk sales and Use of information and communication technologies in terms of their initial cost and net profitability. A sample of 360 dairy farmers, selected through random sampling technique from Visakhapatnam, Krishna and Chittoor districts of Andhra Pradesh were surveyed through personal interview method to measure the dairy farmers’ perception on the attributes relative advantage through a scale developed by Nithyasree and Siddaramaiah. The innovation package of practices for rearing heifers, pregnant and lactating animals; feeding of area specific mineral mixture; strategies for improving milk yield and quality; cultivation and feeding of azolla; use of ICT’s in adoption and diffusion of innovations were perceived to be cheap and net profitability as exorbitant by majority of the respondents while the innovations formulation and feeding of complete feed blocks, use of milking machine, cultivation and feeding of hydroponic fodder and marketing strategies to improve milk sales were perceived to be expensive ad net profitability as meager by almost all the respondents.