Decision making pattern of tribal women in dairy enterprise in Melghat region of Amravati district.

The present study was conducted in purposively selected Melghat region of Amravati district in Maharashtra state. Total 150 tribal dairy women were selected randomly to study the socio–economic profile and decision making pattern of tribal women in dairy enterprise. Study revealed that majority (75.33%) of the respondents belonged to middle age, illiterate (40.67), medium family (62%) and (61.33%) joint type of family. Seventy per cent of the respondents had medium herd size, small farmers (38.66%). More than 60 per cent respondents in daily milk production i .e. 5 to 34 liters per day and about 75 per cent found selling the milk 5 to 28 liters per day. Majority (80.67%) of the respondents belonged to medium categories of annual income, experiences in dairy enterprises i.e. 6 to 23 years and (82%) utilization information sources. Majority (78%) of the respondents had medium level of knowledge about dairy farming, perceived training needs (94%), preferred producer to consumer (76%) marketing channel choice and 70 per cent shown medium information needs of recommended dairy practices. Majority of the respondents shown medium (81.33%) level of decision making followed about 9 per cent in each high and low level. Overall in decision making majority of the respondents (59.11%) breeding, fodder production (63.80%), feeding (70%) and (59.11%) in health care practices were taken decision after consultation with others. More than 70 per cent respondents taken decision after consultation with others for marketing of milk and milk products and 47 per cent were independent in decision making for management of the dairy farming. The age, land holding, annual income, experience in dairy farming, knowledge and daily milk production shows significant relationship with decision making of the tribal women in dairy farming (P<0.01). Key word: Decision making, Dairy Enterprises, Tribal Women; Livestock farming considered as key asset for tribal livelihood. It offers advantages over other agricultural sectors and an entry point for promoting gender balance in tribal areas. According to WTO report in 2010 a higher proportion of women relative to men are involved in livestock farming. Women have a high stake in dairying; they account for 93 per cent of total employment in dairy production (Anonymous, 2010). A woman plays an important role in dairy enterprises as manager, decision makers and skilled workers in spite of that her hard work is mostly been unpaid and their considerable involvement or contribution in dairy production has been underestimated or ignored. The low participation of farm women was observed in decision making about economic aspects of animal husbandry farming. The knowledge and skill of women dairy occupation and their participation on decision making certainly affects their efficiency work and the development of dairy enterprise (Ogdand, C.G. and A. S. Hembade, 2014) In tribal communities, mostly the work of management in dairy enterprises is looking after by the woman who is also responsible for the bulk of the work as well as for decision making due to migration of men out side the village for their livelihood. Keeping this in view, an attempt was made to study the decision making pattern of tribal women in dairy Indian Res. J. Ext. Edu. 15 (4), Special Issue, November, 2015 11 enterprise in Melghat region of Amravati district.