The effect of communication on attitudes of farmers towards artificial insemination

摘要

Presently, India has 204.53 million cattle and 83.5 million buffaloes. As per the Report (1997) at least 92.56 per cent of Indian cattle population is still indigenous, yielding between 1 to 2 kg milk per day, i.e., nearly 450 to 500 kg per lactation. Hence, our main objective must be directed towards genetic improvement of animals. Artificial insemination has been perhaps the most important among the animal husbandry technologies to bring about genetic improvement of animals, in order to increase the milk yield of Indian cattle and buffaloes. In spite of a number of advantages of artificial insemination technique over natural service, the extent of adoption of artificial insemination by livestock owners does not seem to be of a very high order. One reason may be that the farmers' attitudes towards artificial insemination are not favourable. There are a number of factors associated with the success of artificial insemination, but here we are mainly concerned with the attitudes towards artificial insemination, assuming the technical aspects or factors, e.g., sterilisation of equipments, trained technicians, collection of semen, etc., as constant though these factors can also create interference in the effectiveness of artificial insemination.