DAIRY COMMERCIALIZATION IN MOUNTAIN FARMING ENVIRONMENT OF BUMTHANG DISTRICT: PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES

Abstract

Developing smallholder mountain dairy farming is of paramount importance for commercialization and livelihood sustenance of dairy farmers. With the objective to understand the prospects and challenges to commercialize mountain dairy farming, a study was conducted in Bumthang district involving 40 dairy farms covering 14 villages. All the sample farms were categorized into small and medium sizes based on number of milking cattle and was purposively sampled for data collection. The result indicated that Jersey cross breed is the most preferred breed accounting to 65% of total crossbred population. The mean number of milking cows reared was 3±1.08 and 7±1.5 (Mean±SD) for small and medium farms and the corresponding daily milk production was 19 l/day and 47.7 l/day respectively. There was significant difference (p<0.000) in monthly gross income between the two categories of farms. The availability of high proportion of Jersey cross heifers (51%) in the sampled farms is an evident of quality stock available for herd replacement and dairy commercialization. To further enhance milk production, 88% of the respondent farmers were keen to upgrade their herd genetics, improve dairy nutrition and strengthen farmers institutions for venturing into sustainable dairy farming with economy of scale. However, there are socio-economic and environmental factors that limit dairy farmers in maximizing their production efforts. Nevertheless, pivotal role played by Milk Processing Units in absorbing maximum milk from dairy farmers had increased volume of milk production and collection over the years. Hence, a concerted effort from farmers and extension staff is crucial to overcome the current challenges, while at the same time strengthening the dairy value chain management will encourage farmers in transitioning from subsistence to commercialize dairy farming for its sustainability.