Features of small holder goat farming from Chitwan district of Bagmati province in Nepal

Abstract

An assessment was done to analyze the status of small scale goat production system in Chitwan, Nepal. A semi-structured questionnaire having both open ended and close ended questions were interviewed to 147 farmers (69 males, 78 females). The average goat holding was 5.48±0.15 head with female: male ratio of 6: 5. Mainly women folks in the household were involved in husbandry of the raised goats. In this research, we realized that goats were a valuable commodity for the community in the survey area. Grazing in public forest, fallow lands, tree leaves, shrubs and bushes were the main sources of feed for goats throughout the year. When inquired about vaccination, 92.51% of the farmers did not vaccinate their goats and were not aware about its importance. The high index obtained was for health care constraints, followed by feeding constraints, breeding constraints, miscellaneous and marketing constraints. The findings of this survey are not very encouraging as even from one of the developed parts of the country, small scale farmers raising small small scale farmers raising goats seem to be struggling both in terms of technical and logistic inputs. There is need of awareness on improved care and management practices of goat.