Backyard Goat Farming: A Poverty Alleviation Tool

Introducing systems, promoting research, and imparting information on the latest developments to goat rearers, who are usually poor, illiterate, marginalized and unorganized, and are largely the aged, the widows and destitute families, is imperative so that people on the fringes of society experience self-sufficiency, and dignity of labour and life

Background

W ith over 140 million goats, India has the second largest goat population in the world. Largely owned by poor and marginal farmers, as a supplementary livelihood, goats have multiple uses in the lives of the people—as food, as means to access cash in emergencies, as a source of income and as part of religious rituals. Keeping goats also indicates the social status of farmers.

With the fragmentation of land (due to increasing population and division of land) and erratic rainfall, most of the marginal land-holding families find solace in goatfarming as a coping mechanism, for the supplementary income it provides. Goatrearing gains importance especially in times of drought or excessive rainfall, which adversely affect crops. This livelihood activity is the poor man’s choice, despite the apathy and negligence shown to this sector by mainstream institutions.

Whereas development workers are, to some extent, realizing the importance of goats in the socio-economic context, very limited attention has been paid to promoting it as a means to enhance productivity and strengthen livelihoods of the people. Moreover, very little data on the experiences of when it has been used as a resource is available.