Sustainability of Dairy Farmsof Self Help Groupsin Assam

Abstract

The study was conducted in Kamrup district of Assam to evaluate the sustainability of dairy farms of the Self Help Groupmembers in three dimensions of sustainability i.e. economic, social and environmental and data were collected from 200 respondents (100 group members and 100 non-members) through a pretested interview schedule. Sustainability of the dairy farms was measured by using the index specially developed for the study. The mean economic sustainability (0.71), social sustainability (1.73) and environmental sustainability (1.98) of the dairy farms of members were higher as compared to that of the dairy farms of non-member. The Sustainable Dairy Farming Indexof the SHG members’ dairy farms was significantly higher than that of the dairy farms of non-members.The group activities hadpositive impact in the performance of dairy farming in the district.“Sustainable Dairy Farming Index” developed in this study would be useful in evaluating the sustainability of other Agricultural/livestock farming practices and the sustainability indicators can be used as checklist for assessing sustainability of the dairy farms.