DAIRY FARMING IN PUNAKHA: UNDERSTANDING CONSTRAINTS AND OPPORTUNITIES

Abstract

The study was undertaken to gain a deeper understanding of the constraints and opportunities of dairy farming in Punakha District. The field survey was conducted using both open and closed-ended structured questionnaire with dairy farmer groups in seven subdistricts of Barp, Dzomi, Guma, Kabisa, Shelnga-Bjemi, Talog and Toedwang in Punakha district. A total of 60 respondents; 30 existing milk suppliers of Pungdzong Dairy Farmer’s Groups and 30 non-milk suppliers, were drawn using a simple random sampling technique. The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences software version 20. The study found that the daily mean milk production by each household was higher in DFGs which was found to be 12.23 ± 7.89 litres in comparison to 8.75 ± 5.03 litres in Non-DFGs. The result showed the majority (87%) of the respondents do not have improved pasture developed. Further, the area of landholding under improved pastureland was only 0.44 ± 0.63 acres per household. Women have a major contribution in all areas of dairy farming activities such as cattle herding, milking and processing of milk into butter and cheese. It was found that 85% of the respondents were ready to increase their milk production capacity despite of limited land holdings of 2-3 acres per households being a limiting factor for dairy sector growth. To this, the land lease rules and regulation formulated in 2018 allows the farmers to develop pasture in the state reserved forest land under lease which provides opportunities for dairy commercialization. Further, the study concluded that DFGs are ahead of Non-DGs in terms of milk production and dairy management system, that provides avenue for linking smallholder dairy farmers to modern dairy value chains which will be a special feature in encouraging Non-DFGs to form the groups for sustainable milk production and marketing. Overall, there is good scope for the dairy value chain and achieve milk self-sufficiency in the District.