Marketing Pattern and Constraint Analysis of Swine Farming in Telangana State of India

Abstract

An investigation was undertaken to study marketing pattern and constraints faced by swine farmers, covering 48 respondents from 12 urban areas and 96 respondents from 24 rural areas from six different districts of Telangana state in India, as appropriate knowledge base on difficulties encountered in swine rearing is not available even though piggery play a significant role in rural and urban communities for substantial income in this country. A pretested semi-structured questionnaire in precise language was employed for collecting data through interview and face to face discussion with the pig farmers duly avoiding ambiguous, dichotomous and non-variant items for proper interpretation. Majority of the farmers (80.56%) reported a market weight of <50 kg recorded around 5-7 months of age and 99.31% respondents marketed hogs through middlemen with a sale price of less than Rs.100/- per kg live weight. The constraint analysis revealed that, absence of guard rail in farrowing pens was ranked first under housing and lack of knowledge on offering balanced ration was the prominent constraint in feeding piggery. Among breeding constraints, non-availability of improved pedigree boar for natural service and improved breed were ranked first. Exploitation by middlemen and lack of organized markets were recorded under marketing constraints. Mortality of pigs due to unidentified diseases and lack of knowledge of vaccines against most harmful diseases of pigs are main health care constraints. In the study area, piggery sector has not come up well despite of advantages, benefits and huge demand for pork in the country. Hence, suitable policies and capacity building of stake holders are to be framed and conducted to educate and create awareness, in order to double the income for swine farmers.