Adoption level of green fodder production practices and constraints faced by the farmers of Rajasthan

Abstract

Balanced feeding is essential to fully exploit the genetic potential of livestock.The green fodder availability for livestock in the arid region of Rajasthan is restricted to selected areas and seasons. The production and productivity of green fodder can be increased by ensuring adoption of production technology and by overcoming the constraints. The present study was conducted by interviewing 120 randomly selected green fodder crop cultivating farmers of Jodhpur district to know the adoption level and constraints experienced by them. Majority of the respondents either not adopted or partially adopted the improved cultivation practices of green fodder crops. Poor knowledge of green fodder cultivation technology, lack of awareness about importance of green fodder for animal health, inadequate irrigation facility or irregular supply of electricity for irrigation were the top three ranked constraints experienced by the respondents. The farmer participatory approach needs to be adopted by the extension agencies to disseminate green fodder production technologies for increasing the productivity of livestock resources of the study area.