Socio-economic status of goat keepers in bhandara district of maharashtra state

The study was conducted in purposively selected Bhandara district of Maharashtra state. Total 350 goat farmers selected randomly to assess the socio-economic status of the goat farmers. Eight factors were considered to study the socio-economic status and its association with the participation of the goat farmers. It was observed that majority (96.86%) of the respondents had male headed ownership, more than 85 per cent in above 30 years of age category, primary school (34%) and high school (22.28%) educated. Most of the respondents (56%) found in the higher category of annual income i.e. Rs. 10000 and above following agriculture + goat farming (34%) and labour + goat farming (33.71%) as their main occupation. More than 90 per cent respondents not participated in any social institution were landless (43.14%) and marginal farmers (39.71%). However, more than half (51.71%) per cent of the respondents had only goats in their livestock holding. The socio-economic factors viz. sex, age, education, annual income, occupation, social participation, land holding and livestock holding were positively and significantly associated with goat farming (P<0.01).