MAPPING THE VALUE CHAIN OF LIVESTOCK PRODUCTS AND BY-PRODUCTS

Abstract

The livestock sector serves as a significant source of livelihood for millions of people worldwide and plays a crucial role in ensuring food security and economic growth, especially in developing countries. The country is among the leading milk producers in the world, generating over 33 billion liters annually, of which 97% is sold in the informal sector. Moreover, livestock provides approximately 35-40% of rural households' income and accounts for 60.84% of agricultural value added. Keeping in view the importance of the livestock, the present study was designed to know the value addition of livestock in selected study district. For the purpose of collecting data, 101 respondents were consulted those were engaged in the livestock farming. For the purpose of data collection, interview schedule was prepared, after the collection of data, it was analyzed by using Software, Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The results depicted that most of the farmers were small farmers in the area, 52.5% of the farmers had a herd size of 5-8 animals in their livestock while whereas only 6.9% of the farmers had more than 13 animals. The second most important attribute was the milk's thickness, which farmers associated with purity. Additionally, 82% of respondents emphasized the importance of smell, while 71% considered sweetness a significant quality factor. The major products was milk, meat, butter and yoghurt. While least consumed products were cheese, Khoya, hides and cream. The major problems being faced by farmers during the products and by products making easily availability of products and by products in the market, time consuming process, lack of technology for processing the products of dairy.