Pig Feed Formulator (PFF): A Need Based Feed Formulation Software for Commercial Pig Farmers of India

摘要

Pig production in India have come a long way from traditional open grazing-based pig production to concentrate feed based commercial production in certain pockets of India. There has been limited information about feeding system, production performance, needs and constraints of these farms due to their scattered spatial distribution. The present study was designed to study these issues and develop a need based pig feed formulation software. A sample of 100 commercial pig farmers across five states of India was interviewed to assess the needs and performance of commercial pig farms. Based on the need, software called “Pig Feed Formulator (PFF)” was developed to assist the pig farmers in on-farm feed formulation using locally available feed ingredients. PFF was administered among 90 respondents including academicians, field veterinarians and commercial pig farmers (30 respondents from each group) in two states to assess the perceived utility of PFF. The study revealed that majority of commercial pig farmers were not aware of balanced feeding despite 83% of literacy. Average body weight of fatteners at 6 months and litter size was found to be 37% and 29.72% less than the attainable production. Even with good digital literacy most of the commercial pig farmers were not aware of feed formulation software but, majority of them were interested to use it. Post development assessment showed that utility index of the software was found to be very high (UI = 0.76) with maximum willingness to pay (UII = 0.9). The average price quoted on PFF was rupees 1,188