Bottlenecks in Livestock Rearing Among Different Categories of Tribal Farmers in Tamil Nadu

A study was conducted to identify the bottlenecks in tribal livestock rearing in six hilly areas of Tamil Nadu namely Kolli hill in Namakkal district, Yercaud hill in Salem district, Ooty hill in The Nilgiris district, Kodaikanal in Dindigul district, Yelagiri hill in Vellore district and Sitheri hill in Dharmapuri district. The data were collected from 900 tribal farmers which included landless, marginal, small and large categories based on landholdings. The data were analysed by Garett's ranking technique. The study revealed that the major bottlenecks in livestock farming among different categories of tribal farmers were lack of sufficient pasture land, lack of marketing facilities, lack of adequate credit facilities, exploitation by middlemen, non-remunerative price for the livestock products and lack of scientific knowledge. Based on the results of the study, policies related to the pasture land development, organized livestock products marketing, extensive credit facilities and improvement of animal and human resources were suggested for effective development of different categories of tribal livestock farmers.