Study on marketing pattern among the tribal livestock farmers of Wayanad district in Kerala

Abstract

An ex post facto research was conducted among the tribal livestock farmers in Wayanad district of Kerala state to identify the marketing pattern existing among them. Official approval for conducting the study was obtained from the Directorate of Schedule Tribe Development Department as well as from The Integrated Tribal Development Project, Government of Kerala. Thirty tribal livestock farmers each from Vythiri, Sulthan Bathery and Manathavadi taluks were selected using random sampling method. A structured interview schedule was used as a tool to collect the information from the respondents. The result of the study inferred that all the farmers sold their milk to co-operative societies and more than one-half of the respondents did not prefer to sell the heifers. Male calves were sold through middlemen by two-thirds of the respondents. Nearly one-thirds of the respondents sold the manure directly whereas two-fifths of the respondents did not sell. None of the respondents sold the meat directly. In total, nearly two-thirds of the tribal goat farmers did not prefer selling the goats for breeding purpose, but the remaining one-thirds preferred the direct sale of goats for breeding purpose. In the live animal market of transacting goats for meat purpose, middlemen acted a very important role as it was evident in this study that nearly threefifths of the respondents utilised both direct channels as well as middlemen to sell their goats.