A Perspective on Household Dairy Farming in District Naushahro Feroze, Sindh, Pakistan

Israr Yasin1, Ismail Qureshi1*, Shahjahn Qaimkhani1, Gulam Mustafa Solangi3, Ismail Qaimkhani1, Ismail Brohi1 and Abdul Ahad Soomro2

1Faculty of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Sciences, Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam, Sindh, Pakistan; 2Central Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (CVDL) Tandojam, Sindh, Pakistan; 3Vaccine Production Unit (VPU) Tandojam, Sindh, Pakistan.

Editor | Muhammad Abubakar, National Veterinary Laboratories, Park Road, Islamabad, Pakistan.

Received | June 17, 2020; Accepted | August 17, 2020; Published | October 03, 2020

*Correspondence | Ismail Qureshi, Faculty of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Sciences, Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam, Sindh, Pakistan; Email: ismailqureshi379@gmail.com

Citation | Yasin, I., I. Qureshi, S. Qaimkhani, G.M. Solangi, I. Qaimkhani, I. Brohi and A.A. Soomro. 2020. A perspective on household dairy farming in district Naushahro Feroze, Sindh, Pakistan. Veterinary Sciences: Research and Reviews, 6(2): 116-123.

DOI | http://dx.doi.org/10.17582/journal.vsrr/2020.6.2.116.123

Keywords | Dairy farming, Livestock farming, Milk production and sale

Introduction

Dairy farming plays a pivotal role in providing food security in Pakistan. The majority (70%) of the farmers are dairy holders possessing up to 10 animals (Khan et al., 2013). Livestock sector provides employment to 45% population and majority of them are living in rural settlements and also provides inputs for agro-based industry. It’s also provides high quality food for human consumption. Livestock has share of approximately 55.1% of agriculture GDP value added 23% in 2009 and 11.5% during 2010-11 (Anonymous, 2010). Current livestock-population of the country includes 31.7 million buffaloes, 35.6 million cattle, 28.1 million sheep, 61.5 million goats and 1 million camels (Anonymous, 2010). Livestock has been appeared as subsistence sector dominated by small holders to fulfill their needs of milk, food and cash income on daily basis. In the rural areas, livestock is considered as a more secure source of income for the small farmer and landless poor people (Hasnain and Usmani, 2006).

Milk marketing is gaining importance in Pakistan due to attractive prices of milk, especially after induction of food companies’ viz. Nestle, Engro-foods and Haleeb.

Pakistan is producing billion liters (BL) of milk productions according to economic survey of Pakistan 2017-18 buffalo 35.136 (BL), cow 20.903 (BL), sheep 0.040 (BL), goat 0.915 (BL), camel 0.896 (BL) total 57.890 (BL) milk production whereas, human milk consumption is 46.682 (BL). The value of total milk production is much higher than that of major crops of the country viz. wheat and cotton (Ali et al., 2011). Since agriculture is a risky business and vulnerable to weather, therefore, income of farmers varies dramatically from seasons to season and bankruptcy is a common phenomenon especially during cropping season in developing countries. However, livestock provides an economic-safety shield to farmers from poverty menace (Khan et al., 2013).

Naushahro Feroze is one of the poor district of the Sindh province of Pakistan in terms of development indicators. Being a lower riparian, the district is facing water shortage, hence, natural livelihood options have depleted during the last many years. In this situation, livestock is one of the major economic sources of livelihood of the people. The study was conducted to estimate the number of animals, milk production, domestic consumption and sale, record management and facilities in livestock farming, estimate contribution of livestock income to total household income, and explore the female contribution in household dairy farming in the district.

 

Materials and Methods

The design of this research was the descriptive survey and the purpose was to collect in-depth information about livestock and its contribution to total income of the households of rural settlements of district Naushahro Feroze. According to Cohen and Manion (1980) and Trochim (2000), a descriptive survey design is appropriate for obtaining people’s perceptions of social issues and facts concerning the current status of phenomena and/or for describing the nature of existing conditions in a situation.

The design of this research was descriptive survey and the purpose was to collect in-depth information about livestock and its contribution to the total income of the households of rural settlements of district Naushahro Feroze. According to Cohen and Manion (1980) and Trochim (2000), a descriptive survey design is appropriate for obtaining people’s perceptions on social issues and facts concerning the current status of phenomena and/or for describing the nature of existing conditions in a situation.

The targeted population of the study was rural settlements of district Naushahro Feroze. Hence, the estimates reflect the information about livestock in rural settlements of district Naushahro Feroze. A randomization technique was adopted, while selecting villages and households.

 

Study area and samples collection

Out of nine (9), four (4) talukas were purposively selected covering the agro-ecological zones. The randomly selected talukas were Bhiria City, Moro, Kandiaro, and Mehrabpur. Description of agro-ecological zoning of the selected taluka scan be reported as Moro being coastal area, Bhiria City having advantage of main highway to Karachi, Bhiria taluka representing rocky area (Jalbani side), and Mehrabpur as agriculture based taluka. A sample of 600 households was selected from four (4) talukas as mentioned above with an equal number of households (150) from each taluka. A multistage-cluster sampling was applied to select households. In the first stage, 40 villages were selected (10 villages from each taluka) and in second stage, 600 households were selected from 40 villages (averagely 15 households from each village). Randomization was done to select villages and households using systematic sampling whereby every k item is selected.

Personal interviews were conducted to collect the required information on a structured questionnaire. Data were collected by 4 Enumerators. The total time taken to interview a respondent was estimated 45 minutes. About 30 questionnaires were filled in a day. Thus, the survey was completed in about 20 days. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, Version 17) was used to analyze the data. Descriptive and inferential statistical methods were used to analyze the data. Descriptive methods included arithmetic mean, frequencies, percentages, and totals while using inferential statistics multiple linear regression models was used to explore determinants of milk production. The stepwise regression method was applied to select significant independent variables. Before running regression, the traditional level of significance at 5% was decided to include the variables in the proposed model.

 

Results and Discussion

Table 1 reveals the households possessing buffaloes on an overall basis, 323 households (54%) possessed buffaloes. Average number of buffaloes was estimated at 4.28. Thus total number heads of buffaloes were recorded at 1,383. Average number of adult buffaloes were recorded at 2.72 per household in 306 households (51%) while the average number of milking buffaloes was estimated at 1.73 in 259 households (43%). Thus, total number of buffaloes was estimated at 831 while milking buffaloes were 448, which is equivalent to 54% while rest of the buffaloes (46%) were attributed as dry. Cattle were reported in 376 (63%) households with average number of 4.05 heads per household. Like buffaloes, a small numbers of bulls were recorded. Total number of buffalo bulls was only 13. Number of adult cows was estimated 808, while milking cows were 503; which is equivalent to 62% of adult cows.

 

Table 1: Households possessing buffaloes and cattle in 40 selected villages of 4 talukas of district Naushahro Feroze, Sindh.

Animals				% (n=600)	Mean	Sum
Buffaloes	Total Bull Calves Heifers			54 1 34 16	4.28 1.40 1.93 1.61	1383 7 390 155
	Adult Buffaloes		Total	51	2.72	831
			Milking	43	1.73	448
Cow	Total Bull Bullocks Calves Heifers			63 1 7 38 14	4.05 1.63 1.85 2.14 1.7	1522 13 74 486 141
	Cow	Total		58	2.34	808
		Milking		49	1.73	503

Total number of goats was estimated at 1,165 with average number of 5.55 heads per households as reported by 210 households, equivalent to 35% of all the households surveyed (Table 2). Only 146 sheep were recorded in 15 households (2.5%). Segregated data reflected that only 7 rams were enumerated in only 3 households and 96 ewes were observed in 14 households, while 43 lambs were recorded in 9 households. The average number of ram, ewe, and lambs per household was estimated at 2.33, 6.86, and 4.78, respectively.

 

Table 2: Households possessing goats and sheep in 40 selected villages of 4 talukas of district Naushahro Feroze, Sindh.

Animals		% (N=600)	Mean	Sum
Goats	Total Buck Doe Kid	36 06 32 24	5.55 2.36 3.43 2.95	1,165 78 656 431
Sheep	Total Ram Ewe lambs	3 1 2 2	9.37 2.33 6.86 4.78	146 7 96 43

Milk production, domestic consumption and sale Table.

 

Table 3: Milk production, consumption and sale in 40 selected villages of 4 talukas of district Naushahro Feroze, Sindh.

Milk		N	Mean	Sum	%
Buffalo	Total Domestic consumption Milk sold	259 251 190	9.06 4.12 7.01	2365 1033 1332	100.0 43.7 56.3
Cow milk	Total Domestic consumption Milk sold	291 270 188	6.49 3.39 5.07	1868 915 953	100.0 49.0 51.0

Table 3 presents the buffalo milk production, consumption and sale. About 2,365 liters of buffalo milk was computed from 600 households while 1,033 liters (44%) was used in household while 1,332 (56%) liters was sold. Likewise, 1,868 liters of cow milk was computed from 600 households while 915 liters (49%) were used in household while 953 (51%) liters were sold. Zia (1997) suggested that higher milk production can be obtained by providing clean and good housing to animals. The animal should be facilitated with drinking water. Sheds of the animals should be well ventilated with protection of the animals from extreme temperatures and strong winds. There should be proper drainage system to keep hygiene at the farm. It consists of a built up animal shed, a brick soling paddock for animals, calving pens in which pregnant animals are kept separated from other animals before calving, one room for milk storage, one room for storing farm equipment and one for compound feed storage.

 

Table 4: Area (sq. ft) of livestock sheds in 40 selected villages of 4 talukas of district Naushahro Feroze, Sindh.

Type of area	Normal	Minimum	Maximum	Mean
Uncovered area	200	50	120,000	1,655
Covered area	494	50	60,000	1956

 

Table 5: Cross-tabulation of association between use of oxytocin and abortion in 40 selected villages of 4 talukas of district Naushahro Feroze, Sindh.

			Abortion in large animals		Total
			Yes	No
Use of oxytocin	Yes	N %	105 39.0	164 61.0	269 100.0
	No	N %	45 15.1	253 84.9	298 100.0
Total		N %	150 126.5	417 73.5	567 100.0
Chi-square = 61.6 ** (Highly significant)

Association of use of oxytocin with abortion Table 5 shows association of use of oxytocin and abortion. On an overall basis, 26.5% of the respondents reported abortion in large animals. Relatively more proportion (39.0%) of abortion was estimated for the households who used oxytocin before milking of animals. Using chi-square test, the relationship between use of oxytocin and abortion in large animals was found highly significant (p<0.01).

 

Table 6: Growth trends in livestock during one year in 40 selected villages of 4 talukas of district Naushahro Feroze, Sindh.

Type	Buffalo	Cow	Goat	Sheep	Overall
Last year	100	100	100	100	100
Slaughtered died	2.4	2.3	2.8	2.6	2.5
Sold	6	5.5	10.6	2.6	7
Newborn	7.1	9.8	8.6	16.4	8.8
Purchased present	19.5 1 104.9	18.5 2.1 103.1	22.3 0.8 101.1	16.4 1.3 96.1	19.8 1.3 102.8
Overall growth %	4.90	3.10	1.10	-3.9	2.80

Growth trends in livestock during one year Growth. Trends in livestock during one year are shown in Table 6. On an average basis, 3.0% growth rate in livestock has been estimated. The highest growth rate (4.9%) was recorded for buffaloes, followed by cows (3.10%) and goats (1.10%) while sheep are decreasing at 3.90%. Highest mortality rate was reported for goats (10.60%), followed by buffalo (6%), cow (5.5%) and sheep (2.6%).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Suggestions

Based upon estimates collected through this study and observations recorded during survey, the following suggestions are furnished. Milk processing companies should be encouraged to install chillers and purchase milk from remote areas of district Naushahro Feroze. Veterinary Departments of Provincial Government and NGOs should facilitate each other in the development of livestock, diagnosis of disease, supply of vaccines, and awareness campaigns. There should be district wise epidemiological units, so they can predict and estimate the actual magnitude of disease threats and prepare a proper strategy to combat contagious and zoonotic diseases. Awareness campaigns should be started against the use of oxytocin in milking buffaloes.

 

Conclusion

It is a matter of fact that dairy farming plays a significant role in moving the economy wheel of rural households. In this regard, this study was conducted in district Naushahro Feroze district of Sindh province of Pakistan to estimate the contribution of small dairy farming in household incomes. Estimates of this study were inferred to whole districts computed from a sample of 600 farmers selected from 40 villages in four out of nine talukas based upon agro-ecological zones. Cattle and Buffaloes were preferred and possessed by 63 and 53% of households. Milk from cattle and buffaloes was a major source of food and income generation since half of the milk produced was used as household consumption while the remaining half was sold in local market. Livestock contributed about 21% to household income (sale of milk 11% and sale of animals 10%). Milk collection agents (73%) were reported to be major milk selling channel of these small dairy farmers. The negative impact of oxytocin was recorded since 39% of abortion was estimated for the households who used oxytocin before milking of animals.

Data analytical

M stat-c and MS excel, software were used for data analysis and making graph and tables.

 

Acknowledgements

I acknowledge the efforts of all the co-authors who gave me support in this study and preparation of this manuscript, conducting research, collections data and survey in different dairy farms.

 

Authors Contribution

IY, IB, IQ were the data collector and conducted the research work from different dairy farms whereas, IQ was advisor and wrote the manuscript, designed study analyzed data, variations and conduct mean values and whereas, SQ and GMS were financially supporters.

Conflict of interest

The authors have declared no conflict of interest.

 

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