Goat Farmers’ Coping Strategy for Sustainable Livelihood Security in Arid Rajasthan: An Empirical Analysis

Abstract

Goat farmers’ coping strategy under water scarcity and changing resource situations in the arid Rajasthan has been analyzed. Input-output model has been used to quantify the magnitude of linkages amongst different components of the farming system. The study is based on the primary data collected from randomly selected 60 goats-keeping households and 25 farm households without goats for the year 2004-2005 from the Nagaur district in arid Rajasthan. Instead of opting for transhumance system, the farmers have been found innovative in evolving a farming system that has allowed sustainable production of grains for family as well as feed and fodder for maintaining their small ruminants. Three farming systems, (I) Rain-fed goat-based farming system, (II) Partially irrigated goat-based farming system, and (III) Rain-fed crop-based farming system, have been delineated. In response to the emerging resource and environmental conditions, goat farmers have utilized the potential synergy of linkages among different components of the farming system. However, the existing goat production needs to be fine-tuned with the modern goat-rearing practices. The innovative idea of farmers of keeping a part of their land fallow for grazing their goats and sheep during the lean season needs to be used as an opportunity to encourage the farmers to develop this fallow land as pasture with recommended legume and non-legume grasses. This model may be replicated in similar other arid regions.

Full text

Agricultural Economics Research Review
Vol. 22 July-December 2009 pp 281-290
* Author for correspondence,
Email: skumar@crida.ernet.in
1The paper is based on the AP cess Project
“Commercialization of goat farming and marketing of goats
in India’, undertaken at CIRG, Makhdoom.
Goat Farmers’ Coping Strategy for Sustainable Livelihood Security in
Arid Rajasthan: An Empirical Analysis1
Shalander Kumara* and A.D. Upadhyayb
aCentral Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Santoshnagar, Hyderabad - 500 059, Andhra Pradesh
bCollege of Fisheries, Central Agricultural University, Lembucherra, Agartala -799 210, Tripura
Abstract
Goat farmers’ coping strategy under water scarcity and changing resource situations in the arid Rajasthan
has been analyzed. Input-output model has been used to quantify the magnitude of linkages amongst
different components of the farming system. The study is based on the primary data collected from randomly
selected 60 goats-keeping households and 25 farm households without goats for the year 2004-2005 from
the Nagaur district in arid Rajasthan. Instead of opting for transhumance system, the farmers have been
found innovative in evolving a farming system that has allowed sustainable production of grains for family
as well as feed and fodder for maintaining their small ruminants. Three farming systems, (I) Rain-fed
goat-based farming system, (II) Partially irrigated goat-based farming system, and (III) Rain-fed crop-
based farming system, have been delineated. In response to the emerging resource and environmental
conditions, goat farmers have utilized the potential synergy of linkages among different components of
the farming system. However, the existing goat production needs to be fine-tuned with the modern goat-
rearing practices. The innovative idea of farmers of keeping a part of their land fallow for grazing their
goats and sheep during the lean season needs to be used as an opportunity to encourage the farmers to
develop this fallow land as pasture with recommended legume and non-legume grasses. This model may
be replicated in similar other arid regions.
Introduction
Agriculture and livestock production in arid
Rajasthan is severely affected by frequent droughts.
Inadequate rainfall, extreme temperature, and poor
quality of land and groundwater further restrict the
choice for crop and livestock to farmers in the region.
High population growth and poor infrastructure
escalate the problems of resource-poor rural people.
Faced with low productivity and high uncertainty in
crop production, rural people are heavily dependent
for their livelihood on common property resources
(CPRs)-based livestock rearing, particularly small
ruminants (Pasha, 1991). The CPRs-based small
ruminant rearing is a preferred option as self-
employment for the resource-poor rural people. Among
the small ruminants, goats are far more widely
distributed (Rath, 1992) and contribute a significant
source of supplementary income and family nutrition
to these poor rural people (Kumar and Deoghare,
2003). Nevertheless, the quality and quantity of
common property resources as a source of feed and
fodder have severely depleted during the past couple
of decades. As a result of continuous depletion of
common grazing resources, the traditional goat farmers
in the arid Rajasthan are either forced to reduce the
size of their goat flocks or adopt transhumance system
of goat production. Thus, the livelihood security of
these rural households of the rain-fed arid Rajasthan
is under threat. There is a need to evolve sustainable
farming systems for such water-scarce situations,
exploiting the potential synergy among different
components of the farming system. Farming systems

282 Agricultural Economics Research Review Vol.22 July-December 2009
approach has been suggested to meet the multiple
objectives of poverty reduction, food security,
competitiveness and sustainability under resource-
scarce situations (Goldsworthy and deVries, 1994). The
systems approach emphasizes the need to view the
farm situation as a whole and not in a compartmentalized
manner. To achieve a sustainable farming system, an
individual farmer allocates certain quantities and
qualities of four factors of production, viz. land, labour,
capital, and management to which he has access. The
strong linkages amongst the components of the farming
system enhance its productivity (Arya and Kalla, 1992;
Kumar and Jain, 2002). A number of farmers in highly
water-scarce rain-fed areas of Rajasthan, where
transhumance system is common, have alternatively
evolved a goat-based integrated farming system as a
means of sustainable livelihood. The farmers have
adopted sustainable ways of integrated farming with
goats as major component of the system. A case study
of such a system using potential synergy of all its
components may be useful for replication of this model
under similar situations and for finding leverage points
for its further improvement. Therefore, this paper
analyzed a case of goat-based integrated farming system
adopted by farmers as a coping strategy under limited
water and changing resource situations in the arid region
of Rajasthan. The study has also quantified the
magnitude of linkages amongst different components
of farming system and has suggested ways for
improvements in the farming system.
Data and Methodology
The study was conducted in the Nagaur district of
arid Rajasthan, with most of its area as rain-fed. It
represents the home tract of ‘Sirohi’ breed of goat,
which is one of the most important and widely adopted
goat breeds of India. The temperature in the study area
reaches as low as 0 °C during winters and as high as
48 °C during summers. The average annual rainfall is
around 360 mm. There were two types of farm
households in this region; one who owned and operated
only rain-fed lands and were in majority (75 per cent);
and second, who had limited access to assured
irrigation for a part of their land only during rabi
season. Tube-well was the major source of irrigation
water. The cropping intensity was around 150 per cent
on farms having access to irrigation and 100 per cent
for the rest. The Sapher block of Nagaur district was
purposively selected to study the goat-based
sustainable farming system evolved by the farmers. A
complete enumeration of all the households in the
selected villages, namely Kachaulia and Devari of
the selected block was carried out. Using random
sampling, a sample of 60 goat-keeping households and
25 farm-households without goats was selected. The
sample size of 85 households formed 50 per cent of
the total number of households in the selected villages.
The selected households were post-stratified into three
farming system groups, namely I: Goat-based rain-fed
farms, II: Goat-based partially irrigated farms having
limited access to irrigation during rabi season, and III:
Crop-based rain-fed farms. Detailed information was
collected on socio-economic conditions of these
households, systems of goat rearing and their resilience
in the changing agro-economic situation and marketing
of live goats, level of interactions and resource flows
among different components of the system, occupational
structure and strategies adopted by the farmers for
enhancing sustainability of the farming system. The
primary data were collected for the year 2004-2005
through personal interview method with the help of pre-
structured survey schedule. The data mainly pertained
to the size of goat enterprise, family size, age, education,
assets of farmers; initial capital, fixed cost, labour,
purchased as well as family-grown inputs used, mode
of integration of goats with other farm activities,
practices followed for goat rearing, level and type of
feeds used for grazing of goats; output from goats and
its utilization and disposal, efforts made by farmers to
acquire new technology, magnitude of linkages in terms
of output of one sub-sector being used as input of other
sub-sector of the farming system and the major
constraints in goat production and marketing.
Model
To quantify linkages amongst various components
of farming system, the static input-output model was
used (Leontief, 1966; Sharma et al., 1991; Kumar and
Jain, 2002). The static input-output analysis shows the
purchase of each sector/activity from rest of the
components of individual farmer’s economy and
accounts for the sales of each sector of a farm to all
others. The total sales of any one sector to all other
sectors including sales to households and market form
the final output of that particular sector. The household
sector was termed as autonomous sector (Øi) in the
study.

Singh et al. : Inadequacies of Institutional Agricultural Credit System in Punjab 283
The input-output model may be described by
Equation (1):
£i = Σ £ij + Øi(i = 1, 2, 3, ......, m; j = 1, 2, 3, ......, n)
…(1)
where, ‘£i’ is the output of any intermediate sector and
£ij represents component flows from the ith sector to
the jth sector and Øi is the final output for household
consumption and market.
Equation (1) may also be written as Equation (2):
£i – Σ £ij = Øi(i = 1, 2, 3, ......, m; j = 1, 2, 3, ......, n)
…(2)
The relationship thus obtained can be expressed
in terms of production coefficients (aij) and may be
described as Equation (3):
£ij
aij = — (i = 1, 2, 3, ......, m; j = 1, 2, 3, ......, n)
£j
…(3)
This may also be expressed as Equation (4):
£ij = aij £j…(4)
where, £j is the total output of the sector ‘j’.
In the above formulation, ‘aij’ gives the worth of
produce of the ‘ith’ sector required by the sector ‘j’
per unit value of output of sector ‘j’.
Substitution of values of ‘£ij’ of Equation (4) in
Equation (2) yields Equation (5):
£i – Σ aij £j = Øi…(5)
Equation (5) represents the functional relationship
between the autonomous sectors and net output (£i)
and the relationship between intermediate sectors (aij)
in the farm. The inputs and outputs of various activities/
enterprises were taken in value terms.
The animals, especially small ruminants were out
for grazing in CPRs and fallow-lands for 8–10 hours
daily for 7 months in a year. The small ruminants met
their 80 per cent feed requirements from grazing during
these 7 months and 40 per cent during rest of the period
in a year. The large ruminants met their 40 per cent
feed requirements from CPRs and fallow lands for 3–
4 months. Hence the contribution of CPRs and fallow
lands in livestock output was estimated as the average
daily maintenance feed requirements of goats
multiplied by the number of days of grazing. This
amount was discounted depending on the proportion
of feed requirement of animals met from the CPRs.
Thus, an approximate value of contribution of CPRs
and fallow lands to livestock was calculated.
Results and Discussion
Socio-economic Background and Cropping System
The Nagaur district of Rajasthan is drought-prone
and frequently suffers from severe droughts. Even
during a normal rainfall year, farmers can grow only
kharif crops due to less and erratic rainfall and poor
water-holding capacity of the soil. Very low level and
poor quality of groundwater further restrict the crop
choice. Under such circumstances, farmers preferred
goat-based mixed farming system which could fulfill
their requirement of food, feed and fodder, fuel on one
hand and provide regular income and employment on
the other. Rearing of large animals was also not
economical as well as feasible due high scarcity of
feed and fodder. Goat and sheep rearing has become
the major source of rural livelihoods.
A large number of goat and sheep keepers of the
arid Rajasthan migrate to other areas/ states every year
in search of feed for their animals. However, the
farmers covered under this case study were innovative
to evolve a farming system that allowed sustainable
production of grains for family as well as feed and
fodder for maintaining their small ruminants. Three
farming systems, namely (I): Rain-fed goat-based
farming system, (II): Partially irrigated goat-based
farming system, and (III): Rain-fed crop-based farming
system were delineated based on the type of activity
mix and access and type of source of water for
agriculture. Only 26 per cent of the total cultivated
area of the selected villages had access to assured
irrigation during the rabi seasons.
The productivity of common grazing lands in
Rajasthan has become low throughout the year due to
heavy grazing pressure and lack of efforts for their
regeneration (Jodha, 1990). The access to grazing
resources was further reduced during the rainy season
as it was the main cropping season with almost no
current fallow land available for grazing. However,
the farmers under rain-fed goat-based farming system
strategically planned their crop rotations and kept a
part of their land fallow even in the main cropping
season of kharif (Table 1). Since farmers firmly

284 Agricultural Economics Research Review Vol.22 July-December 2009
believed that goat and sheep could be reared
successfully only under the extensive system with
grazing as the major component of feeding. Hence,
contrary to the normal practice in Rajasthan, they kept
20–50 per cent of their farm land fallow in the kharif
season and 0–100 per cent in the rabi season to be
used as pasture for grazing their animals in goat-based
farming systems (Table 2).
Table 2. Use of own current fallow land
Sl No. Type of land Season Area kept fallow for grazing, % Type of grazing
1 Irrigated land Kharif 50 Controlled access
Rabi 0- -
2 Rain-fed land Kharif 20 Controlled access
Rabi 100 Open access
Table 1. Area under different crop rotations in goat-based farming systems
Sl Crop rotation (for 2 years) Share of total Cropping
No. Kharif Rabi Kharif Rabi cultivated area, % intensity
With limited access to irrigation
1 Bajra Mustard Fallow Wheat 28 150
2 Fodder Mustard Fallow Wheat 22 150
3 Fallow Wheat/Barley Bajra/Moth Mustard 34 150
4 Fallow Lucerne/Onion Fodder Wheat 16 150
Rain-fed farming
1 Bajra/sesame Fallow Moth-bean/Mung Fallow 40 100
2 Moth bean Fallow Bajra/Gwar Fallow 40 100
3 Fallow Fallow Bajra Fallow 20 50
A majority of farmers were illiterate and had
landholding in the range of 2.69–3.26 ha (Table 3).
The farming systems I and II were quite diversified
with goat rearing as the major economic activity. Non-
adoption of small ruminants in the farming system III
might be due to the limitation of family labour and
older age of the farmers. Although the goat rearing
has traditionally been associated with the socially and
Table 3. Some characteristics of farm households under different farming systems
Particulars Goat-based integrated farming system Crop-based farming
I (Rain-fed) II (Partly irrigated) system III
No. of farmers 39 21 25
Average age of farmer, years 43.36 40.48 48.20
Farmers literate, % 12.82 19.05 16.00
Average number of total goats 17.85 19.19 0.00
Average number of breeding does 10.72 11.86 0.00
Average number of breeding ewes 5.23 7.76 0.00
Average number of milch buffalo 1.87 1.19 2.48
Average number of milch cows 1.26 1.05 3.62
Average farm size, ha 2.69 3.01 3.26
Availability of family labour (average human-days) 4.74 4.95 4.08
Note: A breeding female-goat is called ‘Doe’ and breeding female-sheep is called ‘Ewe’

Singh et al. : Inadequacies of Institutional Agricultural Credit System in Punjab 285
economically backward sections of rural society, the
goat-based farming system was evenly adopted by
farmers belonging to all the social groups, indicating
its high social acceptability (Table 4).
Resource Flows and Farmers’ Coping Strategy
In response to the emerging resource and
environmental conditions, goat farmers utilized the
potential synergy of linkages among different
components of the farming system. On the rain-fed
farms, the maximum area in kharif season was
occupied by crops, but farmers kept about 20 per cent
of their land fallow for grazing the animals. Farmers
sold most of their unproductive animals and surplus
kids in the months of May and June for restricting their
flocks due to lack of grazing resources. They maintained
only adult males and pregnant goats/sheep during the
rainy season and reared them under semi-intensive
system. The animals for remaining period of the year,
October to June, were grazed on owned fallow land
and open access grazing land (Figure 1). After
harvesting the kharif crops, total rain-fed area was
left fallow during rabi and summer season and was
used as open access for grazing. The kidding of goats
and sheep during September-October led to increase
in flock size again. This strategy helped farmers in
generating additional income and employment from
goats, and maintaining soil fertility of the land for
sustainable crop production. In this way, farmers raised
the crops for food and earned cash income from the
sale of surplus live goats and sheep, and milk, besides
manure for nutritional balance of soil. On the other
hand, the farmers having access to assured irrigation
for the rabi crop, kept half of their land as fallow in the
kharif season for grazing their goats, but sown crops
in the whole farm during the rabi season. During
winter, goats of these farmers were fed on common
feed resources and open access private fallow lands of
rain-fed farmers and purchased fodder and tree leaves.
The farmers having access to irrigation during the rabi
season had added advantage of grazing their goats on
current fallow land of other farmers (rain-fed) without
any reciprocity. It was an innovative idea of farmers
to keep a part of their land fallow during the kharif
season for grazing of their small ruminants. But, the
productivity of the farming system would be much
higher if the current fallow land was developed as a
pasture with the recommended legume and non-legume
grasses and used for grazing.
Quantifying Interdependence among Different
Components of Farming System
The quantitative relationships among various
components of the three farming systems have been
presented in Table 5. In the rain-fed goat-based farming
system, the annual output of small ruminants worth
Rs 29,192 utilized feed and fodder inputs worth Rs
2,061 from crops and Rs 7,274 from CPRs and fallow
lands. The cow and buffalo used inputs worth Rs 9,046
and Rs 4,964 from crops and CPRs, respectively. The
crop sub-sector on an average required livestock inputs
in the form of farm yard manure and draught power
worth Rs 2,296. The livestock also supplied dung worth
Rs 838 as input to CPRs and fallow lands. This
indicates the symbiotic relationship among crops,
livestock and CPRs. The cost of contribution of family
labour in livestock output was Rs 15,335, which
indicated the labour-intensive nature of the livestock/
goat enterprise. The household sector consumed small
ruminants’ output worth Rs 3,525 and that of large
ruminants worth Rs 1,180, which accounted for 12 per
cent and 5 per cent of their respective total outputs,
indicating the greater role of goats in nutritional
security of the family. The market shares in total output
of goat and sheep, buffalo and cow, and crops were 82
per cent, 93 per cent, and 31 per cent, respectively.
The input-output coefficients developed for the
rain-fed goat-based farming system revealed that goat
Table 4. Distribution of goat keepers among social groups (% farmers)
Particulars Goat-based integrated farming system Crop-based farming system III
I (Rain-fed) II (Partly irrigated)
Scheduled castes 35.90 23.81 8.00
Other backward castes 41.03 52.38 48.00
General castes 23.07 23.81 44.00

286 Agricultural Economics Research Review Vol.22 July-December 2009
Figure 1. Resource flows and interactions in rain-fed goat-based integrated farming system: A diagrammatic
presentation
and sheep output of rupee one required crop input worth
7 paise, family labour, 34 paise and market-oriented
inputs, 7 paise. The contribution of CPRs and fallow
lands in the livestock output was prominent and
accounted for 25 paise for goat and sheep and 21 paise
for buffalo and cow. In the case of buffalo and cow,
the contribution of crops and market-oriented inputs
was 39 paise and 11 paise, respectively for output of
each rupee. Each rupee of output of crops consumed
livestock input worth 8 paise, labour worth 7 paise

Singh et al. : Inadequacies of Institutional Agricultural Credit System in Punjab 287
Table 5. Transaction matrix for different farming systems (Rs/ household/ annum)
Producing Consuming sectors Market Gross returns
sectors Goat and Buffalo Crops CPRs and Household
sheep and cow fallow land
Rain-fed goat-based farming system
Goat and sheep - - 1820 530+3525 23847 29192
(0.066) (0.041)
Buffalo and cow - - 476 308+1180 21554 23210
(0.017) (0.024)
Crops 2061 9046 312 - 7580 8611 27610
(0.071) (0.390) (0.011)
CPRs and fallow land 7274 * 4964 * - - 706 - 12944
(0.249) (0.214)
Labour 10030 5305 1883 - 17218@936$18154
(0.344) (0.229) (0.068)
Market-oriented inputs 1942 2466 12322 - - - -
(0.067) (0.106) (0.446)
Total cost 14033 16817 16813 - - - -
Goat-based farming system with limited assured irrigation in rabi season
Goat and sheep - - 1708 792+3678 29307 34693
(0.049) (0.040)
Buffalo and cow - - 712 297+677 12511 13900
(0.020) (0.015)
Crops 2195 6149 196 - 7230 19429 35199
(0.063) (0.442) (0.006)
CPRs and fallow land 13320* 6007* - - 488 - 19815
(0.384) (0.432)
Labour 12030 4116 2400 - 18546@1800$20346
(0.347) (0.296) (0.068)
Market-oriented inputs 1421 2517 16885 - - - -
(0.041) (0.181) (0.480)
Total cost 15646 12782 21875 - - - -
Rain-fed crop-based farming system
Buffalo and cow - - 891 326+3212 36047 40150
(0.024) (0.067)
Crops - 18862 402 - 8745 9403 37412
(0.470) (0.011)
CPRs and fallow land - 4050* - - 815 - 4865
(0.101)
Labour - 7984 2250 - 10234@1206$11440
(0.199) (0.060)
Market-oriented inputs - 8762 18144 - - - -
(0.218) (0.485)
Total cost - 35608 21689 - - - -
Notes: Figures within the parentheses are inputoutput coefficients.
@Indicates total contribution of the family labour.
$Indicates total contribution of hired labour.
*The amount not accounted in the total cost
+The amount not accounted in the gross returns

288 Agricultural Economics Research Review Vol.22 July-December 2009
and market-oriented inputs worth 45 paise. The market-
oriented inputs for crops mainly constituted seeds,
fertilizers and hiring charges of tractor for ploughing,
sowing and threshing. Such input-output coefficients
were developed for all the three farming systems.
The study of linkages helped to demonstrate the
role played by various farming sub-systems in the
livelihoods of rural people. A change in one component
of the farming system would significantly affect the
other components as well as functioning of the entire
system. It was revealed that crop and livestock
(especially small ruminants) enterprises were
integrated components of the farming systems in the
study area. Crops provided crop-residues for goats and
other livestock and the livestock produced manure for
the field. Besides, livestock also provided draught
power for farming and, milk for the family. The small
ruminants with 8-10 hours of daily grazing also
provided nutrients to the current fallow and common
lands through their droppings and dung during grazing.
Grazing on common and own fallow lands and lopping
from trees on owned and common lands was a major
source of fodder for small ruminants and other
livestock. The traditional strength in terms of using
the farm produced resources with low opportunity cost,
has given way to specialized livestock production
activities with milk and meat production as
predominant objectives. It was obvious from the fact
that goats and other livestock made a major
contribution to the total farm production under goat-
based farming systems, where live goats and sheep had
their major share in the total livestock output. It was
evident from the magnitude of linkage coefficients
given in the transaction matrix table that the forward
linkages (crop, CPRs and fallow lands to livestock) as
well as backward linkages (livestock to crops and
CPRs) were quite robust under the goat-based farming
systems (Table 5). The strong linkages among different
components of the farming system enhanced the
sustainability and economic viability of the system.
The forward linkages were, however, stronger as
compared to backward linkages. The livestock to crop
linkages were observed to be generally weak which
could be due to low cropping intensity and massive
substitution of manure by chemical fertilizers and
bullocks by tractors Arya and Kalla (1992) and Kumar
and Jain (2002) have also reported similar findings.
Sources of Income Generation
Goat rearing was the most dominant activity in the
goat-based farming systems in terms of both contribution
to household’s total income and employment
generation. The farmers best utilized the family labour
through goat and sheep rearing activities for ensuring
livelihood security to their families under high water-
scarce conditions. The goat and sheep activity
generated a total of 200.6 and 240.6 human-days per
annum in the farming systems I and II, respectively
(Table 6).
Economics of goat farming demonstrated that the
imputed value of family labour was the major component
of total expenditure on goat rearing, which accounted
for 55-62 per cent of the total cost of goat rearing. The
opportunity cost of family labour was very low or
negligible. The actual expenditure on rearing a goat
was only Rs 531 and Rs 440 per annum in the rain-fed
and partially-irrigated farming systems, respectively.
The higher expenditure under the rain-fed farming
system on rearing a goat was mainly due to
comparatively higher expenses on the purchasing of
feed and fodder (Table 7). The farmers reared goats
as a source of milk. However, the value of live kids
sold and added stock constituted the largest share of
gross returns. The farmers earned the net annual income
of Rs 1,539 to Rs 1,654 per goat. The higher income
per goat on partially-irrigated farms was mainly due
Table 6. Annual labour-use in goat rearing (human-days)
Particulars Goat-based integrated farming system
I (Rain-fed) II (Partly irrigated)
Labour-use in goat rearing 141.00 168.20
Labour-use in sheep rearing 59.60 72.40
Labour-use in grazing (per cent of total labour-use) 82.40 85.32
Labour-use per goat 13.15 14.21

Singh et al. : Inadequacies of Institutional Agricultural Credit System in Punjab 289
Table 7. Costs and returns from goat rearing in Rajasthan (Rs/ annum)
Particulars Goat-based integrated farming system
III
(Rain-fed) (Partly irrigated)
Costs:
Fixed cost: (Depreciation + interest) 2084 1978
Variable cost :
Feed & fodder (straw, pala, tree leaves, concentrate, oil) 3375 3006
Imputed value of family labour 7050 8410
Other expenditure (grazer’s charges, medicines, repairs, hiring of breeding male) 235 226
Total variable cost 10660 11642
Total cost 12744 13620
Total cost, excluding family labour cost 5694 5210
Paid-up cost per doe 531 440
Returns:
Value of milk 8062 8819
Value of kids sold and added stock 12672 14742
Value of manure and income from buck 1453 1242
Gross returns 22187 24803
Net returns 9443 11183
Family labour income 16493 19593
Family labour income / goat 1539 1654
Income from goat/ human-day 117 116
to lower cost of production on account of feed.
However, the net returns per human-day from goat
rearing were not significantly different under both the
farming systems. It was mainly due to higher labour-
use for rearing a goat under partially-irrigated farming
system.
Goat rearing contributed the major share to the
total farm income in both the goat-based farming
systems and provided livelihood security to the farm
family in the poorly endowed arid region (Table 8). Its
share in the household’s total income was 35 – 37 per
cent and contribution to the total farm income was 41
Table 8. Different sources of family income and relative share of goat farming (Rs/ annum)
Particulars Goat-based integrated farming system Rain-fed crop based
I (Rain-fed) II (Partly irrigated) farming system III
Goat rearing 16493 19593 -
Sheep rearing 4345 4637 -
Dairy cow 1782 1590 5170
Dairy buffalo 4952 3644 7356
Crop cultivation 12680 15724 17980
Total income of the farming system 40252 45188 30506
Agricultural wages 6071 7910 4580
Non-farm wages 436 287 3152
Family’s total income 46759 53385 38238
Goats’ share in households’ total income, % 35.27 36.70 0.0
Goats’ share in total farm income, % 40.97 43.36 0.0
Farm income per ha 14964 15013 9357

290 Agricultural Economics Research Review Vol.22 July-December 2009
and easy institutional finance have been identified as
crucial for strengthening the goat-based farming
systems in the area. This model should be replicated
in similar other arid regions.
Acknowledgement
The authors thank the referee for his constructive
suggestions.
References
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78.
– 43 per cent. The net-returns per hectare were 60
per cent higher on rain-fed goat-based farming system
than the crop-based farming system. It indicates the
better economic viability and sustainability of goat-based
farming system in the arid Rajasthan.
Despite significant efforts of the farmers, it has
not been possible to realize the full potential mainly
due to lack of market for milk and live animals. The
distress sale of live goats to the local butcher was a
common phenomenon. The incidence of diseases in
goats and sheep, in the absence of proper prevention,
was a cause of concern and constrained the productivity
of animals. Farmers’ awareness about the market was
also low and they did not have easy access to
institutional finance.
Conclusions and Policy Implications
The study has demonstrated the coping strategy
of farmers in the arid Rajasthan. It can be concluded
that the goat-based farming systems evolved by the
farmers in the arid Rajasthan is not only economically
viable but sustainable also. Diversification and strong
linkages among different components of the farming
system have a synergistic effect on the functioning of
entire farming system and result in higher income.
However, the farmers would be able to generate more
income, if the existing goat production is fine tuned
with modern goat-rearing practices. The innovative
idea of farmers of keeping a part of their land fallow
for grazing their goats and sheep during the lean season
needs to be used as an opportunity to encourage the
farmers to develop this fallow land as pasture with
recommended legume and non-legume grasses.
Moreover, provision of market information, enhancing
competition in milk and live animal market through
organized efforts, access to improved technologies,
critical inputs like vaccines, improved fodder seeds,