Vol. 12, Issue 8 (2023)

Author(s):
KM Abhishek, S Subhash, RY Sushmita, NK Jagadeesh and CT Suresh

Abstract:
Dairying is one of the main source of livelihood and also provides nutritional support for millions of farmers in rural areas. India is still a developing country; several Indian areas are still underdeveloped. As a result, in 2018, Government of India under the NITI Aayog introduced the Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP), to identify the most underdeveloped districts of our country based on 49 Key Performance Indicators (KPI) under five thematic areas. In this context, the current study was carried out in the aspirational districts of Karnataka state viz. Raichur and Yadgir districts, determine how important dairying is for dairy producers' financial security. 200 respondents, including an equal number of dairy farmers and non-dairy farmers, were chosen at random to provide the primary data. To analyse the livelihood security of dairy farmers in aspirational districts a composite ‘Livelihood Security Index’ (LSI) was developed which consists of seven indicators. Propensity Score Matching (PSM) method was used to statistically compare dairy and non-dairy farmers. The study's key findings showed that most dairy farmers (52.00%) belonged to a medium level of livelihood security, whereas the majority of non-dairy farmers (43.00%) had low livelihood security. Dairy farmers had a composite index score of 0.68, which was higher than the 0.59 for non-dairy farmers. The PSM method showed that dairy producers' livelihood security is 14.10% higher than that of non-dairy farmers. According to the findings of the current study, dairy farmers in the aspirational districts of the state of Karnataka were found to have superior livelihood security than non-dairy farmers. Therefore, one of the crucial measures for ensuring the livelihood of farmers in our country's Aspirational districts is developing dairy-based developmental programs.