Vol. 12, Issue 4 (2023)

Author(s):
Rajyalakshmi B, Ranjani Priya, Sai Sri L, Subrahmanyeswari B, Sireesha P and Ramesh P

Abstract:
Backyard poultry farming has played an important role in meeting the domestic as well as socio-cultural needs of the rural people since time immemorial in India which has lost its significance due to commercialisation of poultry industry. However, with the increasing awareness among consumers about the backyard poultry products, backyard poultry farming is gaining importance. In this regard, a survey has been done in three mandals of Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh to assess the constraints being faced by the rural farmers in taking-up as well as in continuing the backyard poultry rearing in a sustainable way. 30 farmers from each mandal were selected randomly, thus constituting a sample of 90 farmers among whom 58.80 percent were maintaining backyard poultry, whereas 26.66 percent were interested, but not rearing and 14.44 percent were not interested at all in backyard poultry rearing. Constraints faced by the farmers rearing backyard poultry were low hatchability of eggs (52.83%) followed by high incidence of diseases (26.42%), attack of predators (11.32%), mortality of chicks (5.66%) and lack of nearby veterinary services (3.77%). The challenges expressed by those farmers who were not owning backyard poultry, but interested in taking-up were non-availability of chicks (41.67%) followed by high cost of chicks (25%), lack of technical guidance (16.65%), lack of backyard (12.50%) and lack of financial support (4.16%). The study highlighting the need of skill development among farmers in backyard poultry rearing on scientific lines for sustainable production. In order to overcome the constraints and also to achieve maximum benefits from backyard poultry farming, strategic and systemic extension and advisory interventions are required for promotion of backyard poultry production among the rural communities.