COMPETITIVE

BENCHMARK
ANALYSIS ON
REGIONAL
DAIRY FARMS
Submitted by:
Adhithiyan | ABM14001
Submitted by:
Kalai Selvan K | ABM14022
Arushi Kunchal | ABM14029
Kriti Bhargava | ABM14031
Submitted by:
Rathnaprakash | ABM14035

Submitted by:

Submitted by:

Submitted by: 1
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Table of Contents

Executive Summary.................................................................................................................................................... 3
Objectives ..................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Hypothesis.................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Overview of the Dairy Sector in India ....................................................................................................................... 5
Market Overview ..................................................................................................................................................... 5
Industry Structure................................................................................................................................................... 5
Growth Factors........................................................................................................................................................ 6
Literature Review........................................................................................................................................................ 6
Methodology ................................................................................................................................................................. 9
Khurampur Village: Overview ..................................................................................................................................12
Khurampur Village: Participatory Research .........................................................................................................13
Village Map ..............................................................................................................................................................13
Transect Walk .................................................................................................................................................... 14
Questionnaire..............................................................................................................................................................15
Data Collected.............................................................................................................................................................21
Data Analysis, Interpretation and Results............................................................................................................ 23
Key Learnings ............................................................................................................................................................ 26
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................................. 27
References .................................................................................................................................................................28
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Executive Summary
This report provides an analysis of competitive benchmarking of the various regional
dairy farms against the recommended Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) standards to ensure
healthy, efficient and abundant production of milk and welfare of the livestock. The Indian dairy
industry has a huge potential, with an estimated CAGR of approximately 16 percent. India is
currently the largest milk producer in the world, having a contribution of 18.5% in the global milk
production. The consumption patterns of dairy vary from family to family, with about 55% of the
total milk produced is consumed by the family itself. About 15-16 % of the milk enters the
organized channel, while the remainder of it enters the unorganized channels. Dairy is an
important income generating sector for labours with no land holdings or small income farmers.
Our broad objective of this research project is to study the behavior of the dairy farmers
in terms of hygiene in milking the cattle and the quality measures which they take for the same.
To complete this, we formulated a hypothesis, which we tested using the data obtained from on
field observations and research. To fulfil these objectives, we visited villages under Sonipat
district of Haryana to get an overview about the demographic characteristics, milking practices,
and the quality parameters.
For the data collection, a single questionnaire was prepared, consisting of survey
questions regarding milking practices they follow, number of animals, annual milk yield, quality
parameters for health and hygiene, as well as demographic details. The questionnaire was filled
through direct interaction with the dairy farmers. The survey broadly focuses on the behavioral
aspects of the farmers on their milking practices.
After data collection, the data was cleaned and processed for easy analysis and
interpretation of results. Techniques such as multiple regression were used for testing our
hypothesis. Assumptions, wherever made, were clearly specified. Finally, from the
observations some recommendations were made.
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Objectives
To ensure healthy, efficient and abundant production of milk, India GAP has framed a set
of standards for optimum rearing of dairy products by regulating animal care, their feeds,
milking and further storage. We are using those standards to evaluate current scenario of dairy
farms in Haryana. Through this study we aim to understand the reasons due to which India’s milk
productivity is much lower than the world standards. Another expectation from the study is to
suggest remedies to the dairy farmers that would help boost their income and productivity while
ensuring the milk produced is of high quality thus fetching better prices in the market.

Main objectives of this study are:

1. Understanding the regional Dairy Farming Practices with the help of detailed questionnaire
2. Analysis of these practices and their comparison with the ideal India GAP standards
3. Suggesting methods to make dairy farming more efficient and increase productivity

Hypothesis
HO (Null hypothesis):
The Dairy farms in India follow prescribed standards of cattle handling and farming and hence
the milk productivity is more than the average production capability of the cattle.

H1 (Alternative hypothesis):
The Dairy farms in India doesn’t follow prescribed standards of cattle handling and farming and
hence the milk productivity is less than the average production capability of the cattle.
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Overview of the Dairy Sector in India

Market Overview
India ranks first among the world’s milk producing Nations since 1998 and has the largest
bovine population in the World. The per capita availability of milk in the country which was 130
grams per day during 1950-51 has increased to 322 grams per day in 2014-15 as against the world
average of 293.7 grams per day during 2013. This represents sustained growth in the availability
of milk and milk products for our growing population. Dairying has become an important
secondary source of income for millions of rural families and has assumed the most important
role in providing employment and income generating opportunities particularly for marginal and
women farmers.

Industry Structure
The dairy sector in India is highly fragmented. About 55 percent of the milk is consumed
by the family producing it. The unorganized sector consists of approximately 70 million rural
households, with about 65 percent of milk being consumed by the sector such as milk producers,
milk vendors, wholesalers, and retailers.
Most of the milk is produced by animals reared by small, marginal farmers and landless
labourers. About 15.46 million farmers have been brought under the ambit of 165835 village level
dairy cooperative societies up to March 2015. The organized sector, like private sectors and dairy
cooperatives, provides employment to about 40 to 50 percent of Indian dairy farmers.
The organized sector sells about 15 percent of the total milk produced in India. Almost 45
percent of the milk entering the organized and unorganized sector is consumed in the raw form
while the remaining is processed to produce ghee, khoa, butter, curd, milk powders, cottage
cheese, etc.
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Growth Factors
Over the last few decades, India has seen growth in per capita income and purchasing
power parity. Due to rapid urbanization, the dairy market has become more accessible.
Availability of information has led to awareness amongst people about the benefits of
consuming milk for health-related reasons. Increased demand for value added milk products
has also fueled its production. With almost 29 percent if India’s 1.2B population having vegetarian
preferences, milk is a highly sought-after source of protein. With the increasing use of
technology for production, marketing and distribution purposes, the unorganized sector is
slowly entering the organized sector, which saw a growth of 22 percent during the period 2011 -
2015.

Literature Review

The literatures reviewed in three major heads such as the impact of external factors over
dairy markets, A/B test of dairy productiveness impact due to improved animal husbandry
practices and factors contributing to operational efficiency of dairy sector. Detailed explanation
of those studies is given below:

1. As stated by Fengxia Dong (2005) in The Outlook for Asian Dairy Markets: The Role of
Demographics, Income, and Prices, the Indian milk industry has seen tremendous growth
from 1980-1990. “Operation Flood” saw an increase in milk production from 22 million MT
in 1970 to 91 million MT in the current period, through the establishment of milk producer
groups in areas of having major milk surplus (USDA 1995; Sharma and Gulati 2003). This
new initiative enabled farmers to sell their milk produce at stable prices in the market and
have adequate supply of fluid milk for the urban customers. Simultaneously, the Indian
government centred its efforts on increasing milk productivity of Indian breeds. This was
brought about by artificial insemination, where Indian breeds were cross bred using
semen from high yielding imported breeds (USDA 1995). The price of milk in India depends
on its fat content. As buffalo milk has a higher fat percentage as compared to cow’s milk
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(6.9 percent in buffalos as compared to 4.2 percent in cows), it received a more premium
pricing. Buffalo milk makes up for about 55 percent of the total milk produced in India. In
spite of being the largest milk producer in the world, the Indian dairy industry is
dominated by smallholders with an average of two to three cows, which are vulnerable to
either low rainfall or excess monsoon rains. 15 percent of milk produced in India is
accounted for by the organized sector. The remaining milk is consumed by the producer’s
family at farm level or sold in the market as fresh, non-pasteurized milk in the
unorganized sector (Rabobank International 2002). The organized industry has great
potential for growth. Since the cow is revered by the majority Hindu population, the culling
of cows is banned in most parts of India (Bhaskaran 1996). This situation, along with a
scarce feed supply, results in an overstock of cows and low milk yield per cow in India.
Based on IFCN data collection and estimations, in 2014 there were 121.5 million
dairy farms and farming households on this planet producing 778 million tons of ECM milk
(cows and buffaloes with 4% fat and 3.3% proteins). The average dairy farm size has 2.9
milk animals with an average milk yield of 2145 kg ECM milk/ animal/year. (IFCN Report:
Market for Dairy Industry in Rural India - Yes Bank). As the IFCN has analysed typical dairy
farms since the year 2000, a time series analysis was possible. The results show that
costs in a specific country can increase significantly within 3-6 years
A number of factors can influence household consumption patterns. These can be
economic (e.g., income and price changes), social (e.g., urbanisation leading to dietary
changes), cultural (e.g., influences by exotic lifestyles), and market development that
makes new foods available (Zhou et al. 2005). Among these factors, however, income is
seen to be the most influential. There are a number of studies that show that the level of
income affects not only the level but 104 also the composition of food consumption
(Cranfield et al. 1998; Regmi et al. 2001; Jones et al. 2003). The increase in consumer
income in fast-growing developing countries tends to induce greater changes in the
composition of food consumption (Cranfield et al. 1998; Guo et al. 2000; Gould 2002).

2. The crop-livestock mixed system is one of the most important characteristics of Indian
agrarian economy, wherein crops and livestock symbiotically contribute to the growth
and sustainability of each other. Livestock is one of the major sources of livelihood for
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most of the small and marginal farmers in India, particularly for rural households who
live in below poverty line. Income from crop production is not always reliable due to
several reasons like inadequate land holdings, not assured irrigation and non-timely
supply of critical agricultural inputs and credit. Although India has the highest livestock
population and milk production in the world, but the productivity, particularly of large
ruminants, has always been a matter of concern. A study was purposively conducted at
two adopted villages of Eastern Regional Station (ERS) of ICAR-National Dairy Research
Institute (NDRI), Kalyani, West Bengal, India, namely Muratipur and Dakkhin Chandamari.
2 villages were given training about animal husbandry methods and 2 control villages
were not given training. The conclusion of the study was as follows- It was evident that
there was a significant difference between the beneficiaries (who received facilities
through extension interventions for dairy farming) and non-beneficiaries (dairy farmers
of control villages) in all aspects of scientific dairy farming practices. Hence, it may be
concluded that extension interventions have a significant impact on improving livelihood
of rural dairy farmers. Therefore, systematic extension intervention may not be a
panacea to eradicate poverty from rural livelihood, but, may be a strongest weapon for
improving livelihood of millions of rural masses throughout the world.

3. Based on the study conducted on strengthening the operational efficiency of dairy supply
chain in Tamil Nadu in comparison with Gujarat Cooperative Milk Producers Federation
(AMUL) by M. Subburaja. T. Ramesh Babub, B. Suresh Subramonian, we have derived
guidelines to extend the research work on Sonipat, Haryana.
Out of seven agro-economic zones in Tamil Nadu, research survey was carried out
in 5 zones (125 respondents) at various time periods using questionnaire and video
recordings as data collection tool. Major observation as identified is Tamil Nadu are
animal health (low productivity of dairy animals, lack of availability of nutrient balanced
cattle feed), growth of unorganized sector (reducing the decision-making power of the
milk pouring members), water source (encroaching farmland, low rainfall,
environmental factors), infrastructure (lack of cold chain, lack of medical facility), and
urbanization (deterioration of agricultural land, decreasing the size of graze land, labour
shortages). Also, one notable observation is per capita production and number of co-ops
is lower although impressive number has been observed in recognised veterinary
9

institutions. As a result, creation of special dairy zone (SDZ), dynamic milk procurement
methods, initiating feed bank and integration of IT in dairy farming were proposed. We
have extended the focus of study in animal health, infrastructure and dairy
productiveness in relation with standards defined by Good Agricultural Practices (GAP).

Methodology
The study was systematically divided into three fragments – defining problem statement
by secondary research, preparing survey instrument, data collection and analysis.
1. Defining problem statement – We analyzed few research papers and articles to
understand current problem with dairy industry. We narrowed our study to the various factors
responsible for the impact on productivity of the sector. The research papers mentioned in the
report explains the different metrics of productivity, influencing factors and different types of
research. As part of our study we compared the optimum level for these metrics defined by GAP
and compared it with the regional dairy farms to observe the change in productivity level.
HO (Null hypothesis): The Dairy farms in India follow prescribed standards of cattle
handling and farming and hence the milk productivity is more than the average production
capability of the cattle.
H1 (Alternate hypothesis): The Dairy farms in India doesn’t follow prescribed standards of
cattle handling and farming and hence the milk productivity is less than the average production
capability of the cattle.
Objectives
• Understanding the regional Dairy Farming Practices with the help of detailed
questionnaire
• Analysis of these practices and their comparison with the ideal India GAP standards
• Suggesting methods to make dairy farming more efficient and increase productivity
Variable categorization
After referring a bunch of research papers and guidelines published by Good
Agricultural Practices (GAP) we have categorized the chosen variables into 4 broad
divisions – Livestock and shed availability, Feed supplied, Hygiene maintenance and
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Milking & Vaccination practices. Our team has framed a set of questions, balancing the
necessity to obtain the right information, socio-psychological behaviour of villagers and
simplicity in interpretation to eliminate maximum possible errors.

Category Variables

1. Number of bovine animals

2. Area under shed
LIVESTOCK & SHED
AVAILABILITY 3. Loafing area: wet or dry
4. Presence of shed
5. Area available per animal = Total area / (Number
of milking animals + 0.5*Number of calves)
1. Quantity of Feed
2. Feed Composition
FEED SUPPLIED
3. Feed plan modification
4. Total feeding area
1. Frequency of dung removal
HYGIENE MAINTENANCE 2. Cleaning of udders prior to milking
3. Cleaning frequency of milk storage cans
4. Presence of a cooling facility for storage cans
1. Frequency of veterinary inspection
MILKING & VACCINATION 2. Vaccinations programme undertaken
PRACTICES 3. Milking frequency
4. Presence of milking machines

2. Data collection method – We used snowball sampling to collect data from the villagers.
Also, we looked for data with optimum number of respondents who own cattle, with dairy
as their source of income. Data was collected for 44 respondents across three villages
around Sonipat, Haryana.
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3. Data analysis - Codification of qualitative variables was done in SPSS. This

codification was maintained in a codebook. After collecting the data, statistical analysis
was done on the data to arrive at conclusions. Various steps involved in this are-
• Data entry- Entered into a statistical analysis tool - SPSS for further analysis.
• Missing data- Missing data are removed in that particular entry from the analysis
altogether to get clean data.
• Data analysis- The cleaned data is used in further analysis.
The cleaned data obtained is fed into SPSS software to perform multiple regression
Dependent variable - milk production specific to bred and weight (Y)
Independent variable – Area, feed, hygiene and vaccination.
The ANOVA table obtained from the software can be used to infer the statistical
significance of each of the independent variables (Xi’s) in determining the dependent
variable (Y). F-test will be used to determine the statistical significance of all
independent variables and t-test will be used for determining statistical significance of
individual variables. The output also gives p-values for each test statistic, which will
help in interpreting the significance of each and all the variables taken together.
Apart from this, the collected data are compared with Good Agricultural Practices
(GAP).
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Khurampur- Overview & Observations

Khurampur is a village located in Kharkhoda Block of Sonipat district in Haryana.
Positioned in rural area of Sonipat district of Haryana. As per constitution of India and
Panchayati Raj Act, Khurampur village is administrated by Gram Panchayat.
The chief occupation of the people of Khurampur is agriculture and dairy. The people are
from different castes and communities. Khurampur is an ancient village and has a very proud
history having produced gallantry awarded defence personnel and martyrs. Though agriculture
is the main profession of residents of Khurampur, the villagers is still waiting for Mega Industrial
development. Education, drinking water, road and electricity are the main concerns of
Khurampur village. The buildings in this village were much better than the villages in the other
parts of the country and every second house had a car. The main crops grown in this village are
Wheat, Paddy, Sorghum and Maize. Buffaloes are higher in number than the cows in this village.
Most of the farmers sold their lands to the Government and made huge profits out of it and it was
the major source of investment for their occupation. Most of the families are involved in money-
lending business apart from farming.
Villagers of Khurampur, are deeply religious. They devote regular time to prayer and
worship. The villagers are socially knit together. Their life is co-operative and interdependent.
They share in the joys and sorrow of each other. They help each other in time of need. Social
sense of Villager of Khurampur is so strong that the guest of one is considered as the guest of
all. If banks and finance institutions provided loan and other financial support to the villagers,
this Khurampur village will see the real development. Medical and health services have to be
improved.
In recent years the Central and the State Governments have taken some steps to
improve the condition of the villagers. National Rural Livelihood Mission, Solid & Liquid Waste
Management, NREGA, Indira Awas Yojna and Panchayati Raj are important steps taken in this
direction.
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Participatory Research
Village Map
To gain confidence of villagers and gauge their understanding of Khurampur’s geography,
we requested few villagers to make a village map mentioning all those places that are relevant
to them. The map obtained gave us an idea of the facilities that are availa ble for villagers in
vicinity. Also, while explaining location of different important buildings, they mentioned which all
facilities they necessarily expect from the government.

The village map obtained is attached herewith:

By studying the map and through discussions, we realized that the village lacks medical facility
for both human beings as well as cattle. They also lack any kind of bus stop or any rest house type
of facility. Also, since most of the people are of same caste and economic status, t here isn’t any
specific area distinction within village.
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Transect Walk
To know about the kind of crops grown, animals kept, and other physical aspects of the
place, we took a transect walk with two elder males and one elder female of the village. They
showed us that the main two crops of the area are Wheat and Paddy. Jowar and Makka are also
commonly grown. Mustard too, is grown in some parts. Since there is a large proportion of
people who depend on Dairy farming as chief source of income, they mainly grow fodder crops
on the small piece of land they own. Others however, produce these crops commercially. We
realized that farmers in this village were much better off financially than many parts of the
country. They receive electricity for sufficient durations and have access to high speed internet.
They even watch YouTube videos to help them with their farming activities. A large number of
farmers even owned big vehicles and upon further conversation we realized that they have been
recently paid very high compensation by the government for their lands that have now been
acquired by the government for commercial and industrial purposes.

The village elders spoke about the struggle they had to get the right price of their land and
how this compensation has changed their lives for the better. They also told us about the scarcity
of water that they have started to face in the recent times. They observed that they are taking
water from much deeper levels than before and their electricity bills have also shot up due to the
same.
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Questionnaire
1. How many milking cows and buffaloes do you have?
a. Number of milking cows
b. Number of milking buffaloes
c. Number of calves

(Metric data)

2. Please fill in the details of cow/buffalo breed variety available with you.
Sl. Breed Age Weight Number Milk given on
No. (Range: <200, 200-300, average
301-400, 401-500, 501-
600, 601-700, >700)

3. a. Do you have a shed in your dairy farm?

Yes
Broken
No
b. Does it protect them from rainfall?
Yes
No

4. If yes then what is the total area under the shed? (in sq mts)
_____________________
(Metric data)

5. a. Do you have a bedding provision for the animal?

Yes
No
b. If yes, what kind of bedding do you have?
Concrete
Straw
Sand
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Soil
Other (Please mention) _____________________________

6. What is the area provided per animal in the farm?

= Total farm area / (Number of milking animals + 0.5*Number of calves)
_____________________

(Metric data)

7. How do you feed the animals on your farm?

Nature of feed Frequency Quantity (Approx.)

Grazing NA NA

Self-prepared cattle food

Cattle feed from market

Others

8. a. Do you visit a veterinary doctor/subject matter expert for cattle food?

(Subject matter Expert-Government agency, Feed company)
Yes
No
b. If yes, how often do you consult the veterinary doctor?
Once a year
Twice a year
Never
On need basis
c. 65% of the people are not receptive to the advice given by the doctor. Have you
implemented the advice given by the doctor on cattle food in the last 2 years?
Yes
No
Sometimes

(Qualitative data)

9.a. Are you suggested by the veterinary doctor to give cattle feed to your cattle?
Yes
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No

(Non-Metric data)

b. If you do not give cattle feed even though the vet suggested so, what are the reasons
for not following the doctor’s advice?
Not enough funds
Do not find the advice useful
Feed not available
Others (Please mention) ___________

(Qualitative data)

10.a. If the animals are fed on the farm do the cattle have a separate area for feeding?
Yes
No
(Non-Metric data)
b. If yes, how much is the total feeding area?
_____________________

(Non-Metric data)

c. If no, why?
Send the animal for grazing
Not aware that it is needed
Not enough space
High set up cost
Others (Please mention) ___________________

(Qualitative data)

11. How often do you remove dung from the shed area?
Once a day
Twice a day
More than twice a day
Once in two days
More than 2 days

(Metric data)

12. Do you clean the udder every time before milking?

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Yes
No

(Non-Metric data)

13. Do you clean the udder every time after milking?

Yes
No

14. How often do you clean the milk storage cans?

Every time before collecting milk
Once a day
More than 2 days
Others (Please mention) _______________

(Non-Metric data)

15. a. Do you use any disinfectant for cleaning milk storage cans?
Yes
No

(Metric data)

b. If yes, which disinfectant do you use?

_____________________

(Qualitative data)

c. If no, why?
Not aware
Non-availability
Do not think it’s needed
Cost minimization
Others

(Qualitative data)

16. a. Do you sell the milk within 2 hours of milking?

Yes
No
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b. If no, then do you use some cooling facility (Below 8 C) for storing milk?
Yes
No
(Non-Metric data)

17. Do you have veterinary support within 15 km?

Yes
No
(Non-Metric data)

18. If yes, how many times do you take your cattle to the veterinary doctor for
Inspection?
Monthly
Quarterly
Bi-annually
Annually
Never
Need basis
(Metric data)

19. Do you take your cattle for vaccination?

Yes
No
(Non-Metric data)

20. If yes, please elaborate the vaccine program undertaken with the timeline
Sl. No. Category/Breed Name of Vaccine Frequency Was it timely
administered to cattle?

21. What is the milking frequency on an average day?

Once
Twice
Thrice

(Metric data)
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22. Do you use the machine milking system (teat cup) to milk your cow/buffalo?
Yes
No

(Non-Metric data)

23. If no, given that machines will reduce the milking time to 3-4 mins, are you open
to using them in the future?
Yes
No

(Non-Metric data)

24. If no, what are the factors stopping you from moving into a better tech-based solution?
Not aware
Do not find it necessary
Not enough funds
Others

(Qualitative data)

25. What is your chief source of income?

Dairy Farming
Crop Farming
Others (Please mention)

26. On an average, how much money do you earn from dairy farming annually?

27. How much money do you annually invest in dairy farming?

28. Do you think that the productivity of your cattle is lesser than ideal?
Yes
No
Not aware

29. If no, what factors do you think can help in increasing productivity?

30. Is there any kind of change that you would like to implement in your current style of
dairy farming? Why haven’t you implemented it yet?
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Data Collected
There was a total of 44 respondents from whom the survey data was collected. The data
collected from questionnaire is entered into SPSS and the data was cleaned. Univariate analysis
has been done on each variable to understand the variation in the data. The descriptive statistics
of all the variables in the data are provided below.

Average Milk Production:

Most of the villagers had both cows and buffaloes and they mix their milk while selling it for the
commercial purposes to the co-operative dairies. The milk production varies from time to time
and the statistics of average milk production is as follows:

Mean 10.84659091
Median 11
Std.
Deviation 1.873325538
Max 14.5
Min 5.25
Range 9.25

Average Labour Minutes per cow per day:

As most of the villagers have dairy and agriculture as their main occupation, the time they
spend on dairy farming is also relatively high. The statistics of average labour minutes per cow
per day they spend is as follows:

Mean 16.22861321
Median 16.27658333
Std.
Deviation 2.828291954
Max 22
Min 7.900375
Range 14.099625
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Area per animal in the dairy farm:

The villagers have sufficient space per animal in their dairy farms and most of them had their
feeding trough in the same place. The statistics of area per animal in the dairy farm is as
follows: (The units are in sq.ft)

Mean 32.68853306
Median 33
Std.
Deviation 5.242155437
Max 43.5
Min 15.75
Range 27.75

Cleanliness factor:

The villagers took enough care for cleaning the area of their farms and most of them tried to
remove the dung at least twice a day. They even cleaned the udders every time before milking.
The statistics of cleanliness factor in the dairy farm is as follows: (In scale of 10, where 10 is best
and 1 being worst.)

Mean 7.272727273
Median 7
Std.
Deviation 0.898671794
Max 9
Min 5
Range 4

Average family income per month (in ‘000s):

Most of the villager’s income came from either agriculture or dairy farming. Some even had their
income coming from lending. The statistics of average family income per month is as follows:

Mean 86.86079545
Median 87.125
Std.
Deviation 13.47958771
Max 114.75
Min 44.625
Range 70.125
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Data Analysis, Interpretation and Results

Hypothesis:

H0 – Null Hypothesis – The milk productivity of the bovine animals is not influenced by the type
of feed, no of labour hours, cleanliness level or the area provided for the animal (Factors does
not have a significant effect on Milk productivity)

H1 – Alternate Hypothesis – The milk productivity of the bovine animals is related to at least one
of the factors (type of feed, no of labour hours or the area provided for the animal)

The major study will be conducted with the following variables whose data is collected
based on the field survey conducted across 44 randomly selected individual households who
are involved in commercial dairy industry using a structured questionnaire. Production function
technique is used as an analytical tool to assess the contribution of various inputs to milk
production.

The Model considered for identifying the determinants of milk yield can be expressed as follows:

Y = f (X1, X2, X3, X4)

Y = Milk Yield per day per Animal (Litres)

X1 = No of labour hours required per day (including time for cleaning, feeding and veterinary
inspection)

X2 = Area provided per animal (in sq. feet)

X3 = Average family (Dairy as a primary source) income per month (in 000s)

X4 = Cleanliness factor (Graded as per the observation on dung removal, cleaning storage can,
udder cleaning etc.,) – Average of 5 scores considered

The corresponding Multiple Linear Regression Model to be estimated can be specified as:
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Y = α + β1X1 + β2X2 + β3X3 + β4X4

Where α is the intercept and β1, β2, β3, β4, β5 are the regression coefficients to be estimated

The overall significance of the model is validated by the value of F statistics

The below ANOVA table shows that 86% (Adjusted R2 value) relatedness of the independent
variables (labour hours, area for each animal, cleanliness and average family income) with the
milk productivity. This proves that the model is good

Figure: ANOVA Table - 1

In addition, this the overall significance of the model is kept intact with the F significant value
being 2.5e-17 (which is less than 0.05). So, the statistical model can be proved and it is not by
chance.

From the ANOVA table the F-statistic is significant at 5% level of significance. Thus, we can safely
reject the null hypothesis (H o) that none of the variables are significant in determining the
dependent variable and hence proving that at least one of the independent varia bles is
significant in determining the dependent variable.

The coefficient table along with their standard errors and t-statistic values are shown in the
table below-
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Figure: ANOVA Table - 2

Observing the P-value it is clear that X2 – Average area per animal in the dairy farm has most
significant impact on the milk productivity of the animal followed by X1 – Number of labour
hours spent per day per animal also has significant impact on the productivity. In case of the
cleanliness factor we can say with 10% confidence interval (and not 5% confidence interval).
However, the average income of the families does not have a significant impact on the
dependant variables the reason being they are all above a certain minimum range of income
and are able to meet the bare minimum requirement for their dairy farm

The revised regression equation becomes:

Y = -2.075+0.1962*X1+0.2026*X2+0.014*X3+0.25*X4
26

Key Learnings
Many families are involved in cattle rearing as a source of income. Most of the farmers
are aware of the appropriate cattle farming practices and readily implement them. However, as
far as feeding the cattle is concerned, they feel that their knowledge on this subject is
appropriate and they don’t feel the need to take advice from any governme nt appointed
supervisor or veterinary doctor.

Since the hospital is far from village, they often avoid taking their cattle for regular
checkup or cure. They don’t specifically get any vaccination for their cattle and rely on whatever
vaccination government provides for free. Some however, use oxytocin injections to increase
lactation, which in hindsight is harmful (though they are not aware of it).

Farmers are very particular about the hygiene of their cattle and the area where they are
kept. The animals are bathed regularly and their living area is cleaned regularly; so are the
vessels in which the milk is collected and stored.

Most farmers sell the milk immediately after milching, and so they don’t require any
storage facility. Mostly farmers sell their produce to a collector who comes from nearby town
and takes everyone’s milk at a common collection center. But some farmers want to keep the
extra commission for themselves and so they go to the city to sell their milk.

Farmers think that their cattle are giving sufficient milk and that the quantity of milk they
produce cannot be increased by a larger amount, whatever measures we adapt. They also don’t
feel the need of using any machine for milking as machine is mostly used for cows while the
people of Khurampur village mostly own buffalo. Thus, they do not consider the machine to be
useful.
27

Conclusion
Dairy farmers have several multidimensional barriers like social, financial and
psychological in implementing the standards suggested by GAP for better milk productivity.
Government and private sector intervention should be increased with increase in their
investment and allowing value addition in supply chain which ultimately will lead to improved
production capacity. Some notable initiatives such as Central Scheme National Dairy Plan -
Phase 1 have been implanted by Union government to improve productivity of dairy cooperatives
through several input activities. IBEF have also reported that dairy sector will grow at 15% CAGR
till 2020, which shows a scope for huge investment opportunity in short term. Thus, the
ineffectiveness of the desi commercialized version of dairy sector can be gradually eradicated
by implementing standardization of feed, variety and animal husbandry process across nation
to reduce risk in the sector and help it grow towards sustainability.
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