Vol. 12, Special Issue 7 (2023)

Author(s):
Debasish Saha, Arunasis Goswami, Subhasis Biswas, Probhakar Biswas and Subhransu Mohan Nanda

Abstract:
Small Ruminant animals many households in rural areas have depended heavily on farming. The goal of the current study was to determine how Small Ruminant Livestock Owners (SRLO) in West Bengal felt about the growth of entrepreneurship, as well as how creative they were and what kind of farming methods they used. It involved 280 respondents in eight villages in the coastal belt or Sundarbans area of the South 24 Parganas district and the red-laterite belt of the Purulia district. According to the overall study, 66.8 percent and 64.3percent of SRLO strongly agreed that they had the courage to deal with any challenging circumstances on the farm, the enthusiasm to keep working to find a solution, and the managerial skills to make the best use of the resources at hand. Eighty two percent of SRLO had expressed interest in finding a market for their new product or developing one themselves in order to increase farm profits. Nearly 40 percent of SRLO had stated that they were flexible enough to take advantage of the changing marketing environment, such as festival season. 86 percent of respondents to the SRLO stressed the importance of buying high-quality goods to get lower prices. Almost 56 percent of SRLO relied on their knowledge and used to make decisions independently without consulting other farmers. While 45 percent of SRLO had expressed a desire to increase production in order to meet growing consumer demand, 42.5 percent of SRLO were prepared to accept financial assistance in the form of a bank loan in order to start a small ruminant livestock business. However, 71 percent of SRLO were least interested in insuring their livestock in order to receive compensation in the event of a disaster.