Introduction

Women play a vital role in the economic development of the country, as their presence is prominent in various fields such as agriculture, industrial organizations, organized and unorganized sectors. Relating to this, the late Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru a great visionary and an architect of modern India felt that the development of women should be given top priority in the pattern of economic development of the country (Gayathridevi, 2014). India is an agriculture based country and livestock sector is an integral component of it and livestock is generally considered a key asset for rural livelihoods. It offers advantages over other agricultural sectors and is an entry point for promoting gender balance in rural areas (Patel et al., 2016). In India, livestock production is largely in the hands of women. In fact animal husbandry is becoming feminized. Most of the animal farming activities such as fodder collection, feeding, watering, and health care management, household-level processing, value addition and marketing are performed by women. The participation of women in agriculture and its allied sectors is increasing in recent days. They are contributing to three-fourths of the labour requirement in the agricultural and its allied operations (Suman, 2008). Rural women are extensively involved in animal husbandry activities. Verma and Goldey (2007) reported that on an average, a woman devoted 3.5 hours/day towards animal husbandry activities against only 1.6 hours/day devoted by men.

Government of India has defined women enterprise as “an enterprise owned and controlled by a women having a minimum financial interest of 51 per cent of the capital and giving at least 51 per cent of the employment generated in the enterprise to women”. For the economic growth of the nation, women should be encouraged to make their share of economic contribution towards the country. One way of achieving is by encouraging women to become entrepreneurs. Normally, women entrepreneurship is found in the extension of their kitchen activities, mainly in preparing commercially the 3‟P”s namely, Pickles, Papads and Powder (Priyanka, 2013). Few of them venture into activities like sheep and goat farming. They own livestock especially sheep and goats since these animals are smaller and easier to handle compared to cattle. Self determination, expectation for recognition, self-esteem and career goals are the key drivers for taking up entrepreneurship by women.

Materials and Method

A case study on a successful woman entrepreneur Smt. Chitra .M, from Agasavalli village in Shivamogga district of Karnataka was conducted. She was interviewed personally with the help of structured interview schedule, observation method and farm records were used to collect the primary data. The sheep and goat farming was selected purposively in order to know the economics of the enterprise like initial investment, expenditure and net profit during one year and also improvement in the entrepreneurship skills in the women entrepreneur was studied.

Result and Discussion

A woman entrepreneur, Smt. Chitra. M, 41 year old, B.A graduate runs a successful sheep and goat farm with the name “Samrudhi sheep and goat farm” which is 14 km away from Shivamogga city. The owner resides in the premises of the farm to have a good look on the farm activity. The land holding is 9 acres, 2 acres used for shed construction, owner’s house and garden, another 3 acres for maize or grass cultivation and remaining land is used for the cultivation of sugarcane. The entrepreneur owns 200 sheep (190 females, 10 males) and 10 goats which were purchased by the financial support from her family. The breed reared were Deccani, Kenguri sheep and Osmanbadi and Sirohi goat breed. These were selected based on local preference of consumers. This unit generated income and provided employment and food security. Two laborers are appointed to look after the animal and these workers are provided with good wages, quarters and groceries. The works carried out by the laborers were, taking the animals out for grazing, feeding of animals in the evening, cleaning and many more. Active participation of woman entrepreneur in care of pregnant animals, care at lambing, providing special feeding during fattening process and care of young ones was noticed. She was also involved in health care activities, decision making and marketing related activities. The shed was constructed with concrete side wall and roof is covered with Asbestos sheet. The animal holding pen was above ground level for easy drain out of urine and dung. This will avoid the chance of outbreaks of any disease and also keep the surface moisture free. The dung is collected at the ground level which is sold as the manure later on. The main purpose of sheep rearing is for sale of live animals during religious functions, for nutrition supply to the family, to generate employment for self and in addition owner has passion towards livestock rearing.

The herd was well managed with regular deworming at an interval of three month with appropriate deworming suspensions, regular vaccination schedule was followed i.e., Enterotoxaemia in the month of April to May, Hemorrhagic Septicaemia in June and Ruminants Pestis and Foot & Mouth disease whenever outbreak noticed. Well balanced ration was given to the animals. The animals were left for grazing in out the skirts of village for about 6 hours in cooler season and 4 hours in summer. The entrepreneur prepared concentrate feed by procuring rice bran, wheat, broken rice from the local market and the maize which was grown at their farm. Entrepreneur generally fed concentrate during the night as the animals were left out for grazing during day time. Fully grounded concentrate mixture was fed to the lambs and kids and the whole grain or the course feed was fed to the adult animals. The animals were provided with adlibitum water, the water was given one hour after feeding grain to avoid digestive disorders. The adult males were fed around 500-800gm concentrate; medium weight animals were fed 300-400gm and small weight animals around 150-200gm concentrate per day. The animals were grouped according to their age, so that each animal gets proper amount of concentrate. One month prior to selling of animal, the concentrate was mixed with vegetable oil, to improve the coat and the give extra fattening effect. Castration was not practiced because of the religious taboo; people believe that castrated animals cannot be used in religious ceremonies. Breeding of animals was practiced within the farm. Male to female ratio was maintained 1:30 respectively this resulted in better fertility rate in the farm. The precautions were taken during the diseases outbreaks like isolation of diseased animal, disinfection of shed. The diseased carcass was deep buried with the layer of lime or salt in the farm dump yard.

Table 1 illustrates that the entrepreneur had invested on shed construction and animal purchase. The cost on shed construction was Rs.8, 00,000/-. The animals were purchased from nearby district Haveri in the livestock markets. On an average each animal is purchased for Rs.3, 500/- which sums to Rs.7, 00,000/-, and the land was taking for lease for Rs.36, 000. Hence the total investment was Rs.15, 36,000/-. Insurance was not done for the animals in the farm.

Table 1: Initial investment

Table 2 shows the recurring expenditure for one year. It includes feed expenditure of Rs.1,00,000/- on maize cultivation , Rs.1,50,000/- on raw material procurement for concentration preparation, Rs.60,000/- on mineral mixture, Rs.60,000 on medicine and Veterinary expenditure and Rs.30,000/- as other expenditure which includes ( feeding tray, transportation of animal). The wages for laborer was around Rs.2, 00,000/- per year. Hence the total recurring expenditure is Rs.6, 00,000/-. Total expenditure on each animal on initial investment and recurring expenditure basis is Rs 7,680/- and Rs 3,000/- respectively.

Table 2: Recurring expenditure for one year (2014-15)

Table 3 shows the income generation by selling of lambs and manure for one year. The animals are not sold all at the same time, the bunches of animal is sold based on consumers requirement. Adult mortality was 5 per cent so, 180 female sheep where was ready for breeding. 1.2 per cent was the lambing percentage hence totally 216 lambs were born. And the lamb mortality was 10 per cent which means 20 lambs died, 10 female lambs replaced for the died ewes totally 186 animals were ready for sale by 6-8 months of age. The animals were sold during the festive season at their farm gate on live weight basis at rate of Rs 280/kg. The average weight gain by 6-8 months was 25kg. The gross income from sale of animals and manure is Rs 16, 52,400/-. The net income was Rs 10, 52,400/-. This resulted in Rs.5, 660/ net profit/ animal.

Table 3: Income during one year (2014-15)

It was also evident that her economic and social status certainly improved after she has taken up this enterprise (Table 4). Initially her expenditure on education for children was less but after starting this enterprise, her disposal of expenditure on education improved i.e., the children were sent to residency schools for their higher education to the city, purchased land, has renovated her house and achieved better social recognition. The woman entrepreneur was inspired by her family members by observing others in family, paying attention to their operations to take up this enterprise which is in similar findings of Berth and Theron, (1999).

Table 4: Status of family before and after starting an enterprise

The farming also have some constraints like, grazing land, problem of theft and unfair price competition from surrounding sheep farmers during the peak period. But these constraints were taken care by cultivating their own pasture, CCTV cameras are fixed to overcome theft and sale of animal in peak and non-peak season compensated the loss during peak season. The entrepreneur has attended training programs conducted by many government sheep farm and also in Veterinary colleges to get updated with the latest technologies.

Conclusion

It can be concluded from this case study that, the entrepreneur is interested to carry out the farming activity as it generated good income, improved living standards and improved both economical and social status. The study revealed that entrepreneur acquired entrepreneurship skills like self confidence, creativity, calculated risk bearing ability, determination, zeal for achievement, leadership, optimism, developed decision making ability by venturing into sheep farming sector. She was also involved in health care activities, decision making and marketing related activities. By seeing her persistent improvement in sheep farming she was recognized and selected as president for sheep and wool cooperative society in Shivamogga district. She also acts as role model for neighbouring women farmers and motivated them to venture in sheep farming sector.

References

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