Goat value chain development for empowering rural women in India

Small land holdings, low agricultural productivity and lack of employment opportunities, have compelled over 25% of the rural population in India, to live in poverty and livestock is a major source of their livelihood. In rural India, 33.014 million households keep goats; 70% of the 135.17 million goats are maintained by the poor for milk, meat, manure and emergency cash reserve. However, they have not been able to realise the potential of goat husbandry due to lack of veterinary services, financial support and market linkage. The only existing scheme of the Government of India during the XI Five Year Plan (2007-12), spent only 10% of the budget, due to poor interaction with goat keepers. In the absence of good extension network, new technologies could not be transferred to farmers.