Community Livestock Business Centre

Small goat rearers in Wardha, Gondia and Yawatmal districts of Vidarbha and Osmanabad district of Marathwada region in Maharashtra are mostly landless. The goat population as per the Livestock Census 2017, was 2,01,732, 1,91,472 and 4,58,409 respectively in districts of Vidarbha region and 2,18,268 in Osmanabad. However, small rearers do not practice commercial rearing and therefore goat management practices are mostly unscientifi c. Inbreeding is a common issue, due to the use of a single buck for breeding, either due to unavailability of high yielding breeds or information. Absence of green fodder, improper feeding, shed management and open grazing make the animal unproductive. Irregular vaccination and deworming due to lack of easily accessible and affordable veterinary doctors is also a huge challenge. All these factors contribute to the decrease is kidding effi ciency and low weight gain, ultimately fetching lower returns. This has led to high mortality rate in kids (up to 22 percent) and adult goats (up to 18 percent). High mortality and morbidity of goats make the goat rearing dependent households, especially the women, highly vulnerable. In addition, rearers are unaware of value added products that could be obtained from these animals, hence very few enterprises get established.