2012 Jiva April Page 31-37

RESEARCH ARTICLE

ANALYSIS OF INFORMATION NEEDS FOR DEVELOPING A MEDIA PROTOCOL IN SELECTED DISTRICTS OF HARYANA IN ANIMAL HUSBANDRY PRACTICES* S. Sreehari1, H.K. Gulati2 and A.K. Varma3 Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary & Animal Sciences, Hisar *Part of Ph.D thesis submitted by first author to LLRUVAS, Hisar

ABSTRACT

Women in India play a predominant role in agriculture and food provisioning and subsistence agricultural activities. The 'silent majority' of the world's poor are women. They face peculiar social, cultural, educational, political and allied problems.

Studies have shown that although rural women produce up to 80 per cent of food in developing countries, yet they have title to only a fraction of farm land and access to ten percent of credit and five per 1. Veterinary Surgeon , Veterinary Dispensary, Pudukad, Thrissur.

2. Professor, Department of Livestock Production Management, College of Veterinary Sciences, Hisar.

3. Professor & Head, Department of Livestock Production Management, College of Veterinary Sciences, Hisar.

cent of extension advice (Agarwal, 2003). Rural women's access to agricultural extension services worldwide is only about 1/20th of that of men, and technology is rarely designed specifically to address the women's needs. In India, out of 88,000 village extension workers, only about 10 percent (9,000) are female (NRCWA, 2007). No training would bring desirable changes in the behaviour of farm women unless it is need and interest based. The media is playing an important role in passing on meaningful informations at faster rate to the large number of farm women in our country. It has emerged as one of the powerful sources of seeking relevant scientific information by our farm women, therefore, tapping and utilizing media for transferring the newly generated technologies in agriculture and animal

JIVA Vol. 10

INTRODUCTION

Issue 1 April 2012

The present study was conducted in Haryana state. Sixty rural women from each Khoka, Sadalpur, Purkhas and Harsana villages were selected randomly for assessing information needs of rural women regarding animal husbandry practices. On the basis of weighted mean scores and ranks messages having high five ranks and three sub-messages from each selected messages got higher rank were finally selected for media preparation. Selected messages were breeding, balanced feeding, animal diseases and their prevention, farm management and accounting and clean milk production in descending order of mean scores. Under balanced feeding, feeding management got ranked second with weighted mean score 2.79. Balanced ration and its composition ranked third with weighted mean score 2.70. Mineral mixture feeding in animal feed with weighted mean score 2.9 got ranked first. Time of insemination got rank first with weighted mean score 2.15 and the sub-message symptoms of heat got rank second with weighted mean score 2.19 among sub-messages related to breeding. Among sub-messages related to animal diseases first three ranks went to foot and mouth disease (I, 2.69), Wound treatment (II, 2.50) and Tympany/bloat (III, 2.15).

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RESEARCH ARTICLE

husbandry among the Indian farm women is crucial and of significant importance. The present study was therefore conducted to assess the information needs of rural women in Hisar and Sonepat districts of Haryana for selecting the messages to be included in an internet based media package on animal husbandry practices for rural women of Haryana.

J. Ind. Vet. Assoc., Kerala. 10 (1)

MATERIALS AND METHODS To assess the information need of rural women regarding animal husbandry practices following methodological steps were followed.

Hisar and Sonepat districts of Haryana state were selected randomly. There are 9 blocks in Hisar district and 7 blocks in Sonipat district. Out of these, two blocks from each district viz., Hisar I and Adampur blocks were selected at random from Hisar district while, Ganaur and Sonepat blocks were selected from Sonepat district, randomly. From each of the selected blocks a list of all villages of block concerned was prepared and from that list one village from each block viz., Khoka village from Hisar I block, Sadalpur village from Adampur block, Purkhas village from Ganaur block and Harsana village from Sonepat block were selected randomly.

60 rural women who involved in dairy activities from each village were selected purposively. The interview was conducted only from one female of family who had been actively involved in rearing buffaloes. In this way, the total sample for this study was 240 women. Need was operationalized as the need of the each respondent related to selected animal husbandry practices. For assessing the need of the rural women an inventory pertaining to the critical messages and sub-messages was prepared in consultation with experts, relevant literature, library and package of practices. In this way, total nine messages were listed. Each message was ascertained

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under three categories i.e. most needed, needed and least needed with scores 3, 2 and 1 respectively.

Weighted mean scores were worked out for each of the nine messages and sub-messages separately. The ranks were assigned according to weighted mean score and fifty per cent of messages having top five ranks and 3 sub-messages from each selected messages got upper rank were finally selected for media preparation. Frequency and percentages where used to study the profile of the respondents.

RESULTS Involvement of rural women clientele in message designing and media production is of paramount importance in media preparation to avoid any loss of communication. Media effectiveness can be enhanced only when the messages selected are in tune with the need and interest of target audience.

Therefore, in present study attempts were made to select the messages and sub-messages according to the need of the rural women in consultation with experts and relevant literature of animal husbandry.

In this way total nine messages viz., breeding, feeding, management of cattle shed, health care, preservation of green fodder, clean milk production, farm management and accounting, marketing, animal diseases and their prevention were listed (Table 1) and each message was further divided into sub-messages (Table 2). It was revealed that out of these five messages i.e., balanced feeding, breeding, animal diseases and their prevention, farm management and accounting and clean milk production had above 2.46 weighted mean scores and ranked I to V respectively. Thus these five messages were selected for media preparation, identified as most needed messages by rural women (Table 1).

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Table 1: S. No.

Selection of the messages according to the need of the rural women regarding animal husbandry practices Most needed

Needed

Least needed

Total weighted mean score

Rank

Farm management and accounting

160

33

47

2.47

IV

2.

Breeding

180

38

22

2.65

II

3.

Marketing

14

181

45

1.87

VI

4.

Management of cattle shed

33

75

132

1.59

VII

Animal diseases and their prevention

159

38

43

2.48

III

6.

Balanced feeding

210

29

1

2.87

I

7.

Health care

40

38

162

1.5

IX

8.

Preservation of green fodder

40

44

156

1.51

VIII

Clean milk production

161

29

50

2.46

V

1.

5.

9.

Messages

Selection of sub-messages The selected messages were further divided into sub-messages. They were then ranked in a similar manner to find out which of the submessages have to be included and those to be eliminated. The results are shown in Table 2.

Table 2: Selection of various sub-messages

Needed

Least needed

Total weighted mean score

Rank

1. Selection of sub-messages related to balanced feeding (M1) 1.

Calf feeding

195

36

9

2.77

III

2.

Change required in feeding of animals before and after parturition/claving

176

50

14

2.67

IV

Feeding management

198

34

8

2.79

II

3.

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Most needed

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S. No. Messages

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RESEARCH ARTICLE

4.

Balanced ration and its composition

181

47

12

2.70

III

Essential nutrients in animal feed

47

49

144

1.59

VI

6.

Feeding of pregnant cow

179

39

22

2.65

V

7.

Feeding management of milch animals

178

42

20

2.65

V

Mineral mixture feeding

219

19

2

2.90

I

5.

8.

2. Selection of sub-messages related to breeding (M2) 1.

Symptoms of heat

73

129

38

2.14

II

2.

Heat cycle and time of breeding

97

49

94

2.01

VII

3.

Pregnancy diagnosis

61

108

71

1.95

VIII

4.

Artificial insemination

68

119

53

2.06

IV

5.

Time of insemination

94

90

56

2.15

I

6.

Importance of insemination 65

118

57

2.03

VI

7.

Care during pregnancy

61

137

42

2.07

III

8.

Care during parturition

82

95

63

2.07

III

9.

Care after parturition

78

97

65

2.05

V

10.

Care of calf

67

123

50

2.07

III

J. Ind. Vet. Assoc., Kerala. 10 (1)

3. Selection of sub-messages related to animal diseases and their prevention (M3) 1.

Anestrus

112

23

105

2.03

IV

2.

Ectoparasite infestation

60

122

58

2.01

V

3.

Retained placenta

98

44

98

2.00

VI

4.

Diarrhoea

56

108

76

1.92

IX

5.

Repeat breeding

59

97

84

1.90

VI

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6.

Endoparasite infestation

57

127

56

2.00

VIII

7.

Intoxication

79

64

97

1.93

VII

8.

Tuberculosis

100

25

115

1.94

VIII

9.

Haemorrhagic septicemia (HS)

64

109

67

1.99

VII

10.

Abortion

124

28

88

2.15

III

11.

Pneumonia

63

98

79

1.93

IX

12.

Milk fever

101

45

94

2.03

IV

13.

Foot and mouth disease

196

14

30

2.69

I

14.

Constipation

60

91

89

1.88

XII

15.

Cow pox

57

87

96

1.84

XIV

16.

Tympany/bloat

62

85

93

1.87

XIII

17.

Mastitis

80

79

81

2.00

VII

18.

Tail necrosis

46

60

134

1.63

XVI

19.

Wound treatment

146

67

27

2.50

II

20.

Coughing

49

69

122

1.70

XV

Purchase of milch animals

2.

16

24

2.73

IV

Purchase of feed ingredients 48

34

158

1.54

VI

3.

Sale of produce

147

89

4

2.59

V

4.

Sale of animal manure

20

60

160

1.41

VII

5.

Characteristics of Murrah buffalo

194

40

6

2.78

II

Age estimation of animals from teeth

198

29

13

2.77

III

Credit facilities

213

10

17

2.81

I

6.

7.

200

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4. Selection of sub-messages related to Farm management and accounting (M4)

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RESEARCH ARTICLE

5. Selection of sub-messages related to clean milk production (M5) 1.

Fat testing at home

2.

48

177

1.32

VI

Prevention of damage of teats77

161

2

2.31

V

3.

Right method of milking

203

25

12

2.79

I

4.

Usefulness of clean milk production

145

89

6

2.57

II

Health symptoms for decline in milk

132

84

24

2.45

IV

Care to be taken after milking

117

117

6

2.46

III

Cleaning before milking

206

19

15

2.79

I

5.

6.

7.

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DISCUSSION

J. Ind. Vet. Assoc., Kerala. 10 (1)

!In the present study among nine main messages balanced feeding ranked highest in information need as compared to breeding (Rank II), Marketing (Rank VI), Management of cattle shed (Rank VII) etc. Since the major farm operations of breeding, health care and marketing and finance require outside contact, the involvement of farm women was less. This might be the reason for the farm women to perceive these major farm operations as the least preferred areas of training. Similar findings were reported by Manjusha (1990), Sheela and Swamy (1993), Prakash et. al.

(1995) and Singh et. al. (2001). Due to constraints of time and resource there was no other alternative than tone down the number of messages. Among breeding practices time of insemination ranked first followed by heat symptoms, care during pregnancy, care durin parturition and calf care. Similar studies have been reported by Durgga Rani and Subhadra, (2009) who reported selection of breeds ranked first for both knowledge and skill oriented training needs. The farm women might have perceived, selecting a suitable breed as one of the primary factors in achieving productivity in dairy animals. This finding is in line with those of Fulzele and Meena (1995) and

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Raju et. al. (1999) who reported that selection of breed was a most needed area of training. Perhaps the fact that need assessment was done by a veterinarian prompted the respondents to pin point their information needs in the form of specific diseases like Foot and mouth disease, wound treatment and common conditions like Tympany. Among submessages related to farm management and accounting information regarding credit facilities ranked first. Capital is an important prerequisite for starting a dairy farm. Limited or non-availability of capital among the respondents might be the reason for their highest preference for information regarding credit facilities. Similar studies have been reported by Jothilakshmi et. al. (2009). Breed identification especially that of Murrah was ranked second among sub-messages related to management and accounting perhaps because of awareness among farmers that such knowledge is most important during purchase of animals. Similar to these findings Fulzele and Meena (1995) reported that selection of breeds were considered as important areas of training by farm women. Regarding health care, vaccination was ranked first for knowledge need. The farm women might have been interested to know about the control and identification of

RESEARCH ARTICLE

important diseases. The results are in par with the findings of Umarani and Thangamani (2000), Das and Mishra (2002) and Gupta and Tripathi (2002).

About the information need with respect to the minor operations of marketing and finance, the farm women needed training the most in banking and insurance. This might be because the farm women had limited information regarding the various sources from which they could obtain financial assistance and also about the insurance policies. In the present study the women expressed need to know about practices to be followed to obtain clean milk (Rank V) as main message. This perhaps is because of lesser awareness about hygiene in rural surroundings.

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Women SHGs in Livestock Farming through Need-Based Trainings. AsiaPacific Journal of Rural Development.

19(2):17-30.

Manjusha 1990. Time utilization pattern of rural women in dairy farming. M.Sc. Thesis, Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana.

NRCWA. 2007. Vision 2025 Perspective Plan.

National Research Centre For Women In Agriculture, Bhubaneswar. Retrieved from, http://www.nrcwa.org/downloadfiles/nrcwa vision2025.pdf Prakash, O., Mahipal, R.L. and Kherde. 1995. A study of perception of training needs of landless farm women in scientific dairy farming practices. Advances in Agricultural research in India, 4: 196-209.

Durgga Rani, V. and Subhadra, M.R. 2009. Training needs of farm women in dairy farming.

Veterinary World, 2(6): 221-223

Raju, L.D., Nataraju, M.S. and Niranjan, M. 1999.

Women in animal production an ex- post facto analysis. Agricultural Extn. Rev., 11(3): 3-8.

Fulzele, R.M. and Meena, B.L. 1995. Training needs of dairy tribal women. Ind. J. Dairy Sci., 48: 551-553.

Sheela, B. and Swamy, S. 1993. Training needs for dairy practicing women. Maha. J. Ext. Edu., 12(3&4): 345-347.

Gupta, M. and Tripathi, H. 2002. Assessment of training needs of rural women in dairy enterprise. Indian J. Dairy Sci., 55 (3): 178182.

Singh, M., Mishra, S. and Rani, S. 2001. Training needs of rural women. Ind. J. Ext. Edu., 37(1&2): 92-94.

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Umarani, K. and Thangamani, K. 2000: Technological needs of women in dairying.

J. Ext. Edu., 11(2): 2812-2814.

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Jothilakshmi, M., Krishnaraj, R. and Sudeepkumar, N.K. 2009. Empowering the Members of

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