Socio-Economic Status of Milk Producers of Primary Milk Societies: A Case Study

Dairy development program plays a vital role in the socio-economic conditions of the rural people. Higher demand for milk means adding larger number of high-breed milk producing cattle to the milk population. A large part of this cattle population is owned and reared in rural areas. Thus, small marginal farmers and landless agricultural laborers play a very important role in milk production of the country. Dairy farming can also be centered where the demand for milk is high. The co-operative movement for milk was started in India in the last decade of the nineteenth century with two objectives in view-protecting the farmers from the hands of the private money lenders and improving their economic condition. This paper endeavors to understand the socio-economic status of milk producers of primary milk societies. To study socio-economic status of milk producers, 90 milk supplying members from seven dairy primary societies out of fourteen societies having membership of 1027 were considered. Primary data were collected through schedule questionnaire, for the purpose of conducted survey only milk supplying members were selected by way of random sampling method. The primary data is processed by using SPSS package for drawing necessary results. The empirical results show that majority of members are above poverty line and 55.6% of them earn between Rs.5000 to 10000 p.m. The study also reveals that nearly 77.8% of the respondents are happy with the dairy business but 60% of them responded that new generation of their family should not continue with the same business. This paper also attempts to focus on a discussion on members perception of quality of services provided by the dairy milk societies in study area. The various aspects considered in the study are: opinion about satisfaction from various services provided by dairy societies, extension services like training, advisory service, education tour, etc..