Vol. 11, Issue 11 (2022)

A study on socio-economic status and constraints faced by the shepherds of native sheep prevalent in Nagarjuna sagar area of Nalgonda, Nagarkurnool and Suryapet districts of Telangana was carried out by collecting information from 89 farmers in a total of 30 villages of 10 mandals under field conditions. In the present study, most of the farmers interviewed were of the middle age (74.16%) and having medium family size (68.54%). Majority (60.67%) of the shepherds were illiterates with sheep rearing as primary occupation (95.51%) and annual income ranged from Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 75,000. The average land holding capacity was 2.96 acres and most of them (43.82%) were small farmers. The average annual income of the shepherds was Rs.77, 921. It was noted that availability of veterinary services was not a constraint but lack of organized meat markets & scientific knowledge of the farmers, non-availability of concentrate feed, transport facility, grazing lands, water facilities, middle men hindrance were found to be major constraints faced by shepherds in the study area.