Socio-economic status and system of farming practices with Diara buffaloes in the middle gangetic plains of Bihar, India

Abstract

Farming systems and socio-economic status of farmers rearing Diara buffaloes were studied by visiting 183 farmers' herds belonging to Diara breeding tract in Patna district of Bihar, India. Results indicated that the estimated population of Diara buffaloes in the breeding tract was 0.60 million out of 3.91 million in Bihar state. Reduction in forest area, cultivable waste land, permanent pastures and grazing land, and fallow land to the tune of 36.0%, 60.6%, 55.1% and 44.4% poses a major challenge to the simple existence of Diara population. A total of 63.4% of the farmers in the breeding tract provided their buffaloes housing in terms of temporary sheds. The estimated age at first calving of Diara buffaloes was found to be 46.4±2.56 months whereas the mean service period and dry period of these buffaloes in the breeding tract were observed to be 88.1±5.25 and 127.18±4.56 days, respectively. The inter-calving period in the habitat was found to range from 15 to 21 months. Interaction studies between different components of farming systems with Diara farmers showed that the distance between agriculture and buffalo rearing was the shortest with 15 units in the study area. Percentage contribution of Diara buffaloes to the overall income was highest with landless farmers (41.3%), followed by marginal (38.5%) and small farmers (33.8%). Regression analysis of different independent variables disclosed that investment on bullocks had highly significant (P<0.01) effect on the income of Diara farmers. Improving the role of Diara buffaloes from sustaining the farmers to prospering the farmers has been discussed.