Socio-economic status of the Mecheri sheep farmers and economics of rearing under farmer's management system

Study was made on 2309 households in Mecheri sheep breeding tract to collect information on socio-economic status, marketing and economics of Mecheri sheep under farmer's field condition. The average household family size in Mecheri sheep farmers was 4.33 ± 0.02 with literacy rate of 51.73 per cent. The percentage of farmers belonging to backward, most backward and other communities were 64.1, 29.5 and 6.40 per cent, respectively. Average annual income of the family was Rs.19,432 ± 202. The mean land holding was 5.28 ± 0.23 ha, of which, the irrigated and unirrigated land constituted 32.95 and 67.05 per cent, respectively. The distribution of farmers with marginal, small, medium and large land holding size was 19.70, 34.95, 35.41 and 0.73 per cent, respectively. Mecheri sheep was generally sold in the weekly markets or the traders who visited the villages periodically. The number of sheep sold per year in the flock size of 6–15, 16–25, 26–50 and above 75 was 81.8, 67.70, 52.30 and 26.50 per cent, respectively. The total capital investment needed for establishing a breeding stock for an average flock size of 17.60 was Rs. 34,314.20. The total recurring expenditure and the gross income obtained were Rs. 9,524.40 and 13,073.78, respectively. The study revealed that the Mecheri sheep rearing provided their owners regular income and employment opportunities round the year. The income/sheep was marginal and the return from the animals could be improved through concerted effort to extract more benefits by improved sheep husbandry practices.