The prominent socio-economic issues of farmers rearing Kenguri sheep were analyzed during the survey in Yadgir district of Karnataka state. Total of 20 intensive sheep farmers were assessed in the entire research by assessor. The major sheep farmers are middle aged (45.00%) under age group pattern. With respect to education and its level, (80.00%) of farmers were literals and (43.75%) of them had primary education. Sheep farming (45.00%) was the main occupation of farmers and agriculture and allied activities (55.00%) were the major sub-occupation types. Nuclear type of family (65.00%) having small family size (55.00%) was dominant among the sheep farmers. Sheep farmers had medium overall farming experience (55.00%) and sheep rearing experience (40.00%) under farming experience domain. Most of the sheep farmers had large land holdings (65.00%) and their social participation was duly noticed as one organizational activity (65.00%). This type of experiment is useful for the rural farmers to know about their social and economic perspectives of farming life in further days to shape up their status.

Kenguri sheep farmers, Socio-economic issues, intensive sheep farming, occupation, farming experience, land holding.

In the northeastern Karnataka state districts of Koppal and Raichur, there is a popular native mutton breed known as kenguri, or tenguri. The breed's name, Tenguri, comes from its dark red color, which is similar to the color of coconut husk. They have a short tail and medium-sized, drooping ears. Body size is greater than that of the state's other sheep breeds such as Bellary, Hassan, and Mandya (Appannavar et al., 2010).

According to the Livestock Census 2019, India has 74.26 million sheep overall, making it the third-largest sheep population in the world. The total number of sheep has grown by 14.13% from the 2012 Livestock Census (BAHS, 2023). According to data from 2020, there are 6.7 lakh Kenguri sheep in Karnataka (Gowane et al., 2020).

The increased demand for mutton due to its high nutritional content, it is imperative to raise the quality of sheep used to produce mutton (Kulkarni et al., 2008). India ranks eighth in the world with 9.77 million tons of total meat productivity. Meat availability per capita is 7.10 kg annually. Compared to earlier years, meat production has increased by 5.13 percent (BAHS, 2023).

The study, which aimed to characterize the Kenguri sheep, which are renowned for producing mutton, was conducted in the Karnataka state's Yadgir district (Fig. 1). A systematic schedule created specifically for the study was used to collect data from 50 shepherds across 20 flocks under intensive rearing system.

Yadgir, the research area, is situated 389 meters above average sea level in the Northern Eastern Dry Zone of Karnataka. Its latitude is 16° 15' N and its longitude is 77° 20' E (Shanwad et al., 2015). This region receives between 640 and 810 mm of rain on average each year (Hallad et al., 2023).

The questionnaire covers a variety of topics, including age group, occupation, family size and type, land ownership, agricultural and sheep rearing experiences, and shepherds' social activity.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yadgir_district#/media/File:Yadagiri_district.png)

Fig. 1. Yadgir district (study area) geographical map and locations of farms selected for the study.

Statistical analysis. All of the outcomes were obtained using International Business Machines (IBM) SPSS version 16.0 statistical tools, such as frequency and percentage values.

Farmers age group. The most sheep farmers were middle aged (45.00%) followed by old aged (35.00%) and young ones (20.00%) during the survey of intensive rearing farmers. These results were partly in concurrence to the outcomes of Rajanna et al. (2012); Ramesh et al. (2012).

Education level. Majority of the sheep farmers were literate (80.00%) followed by minor percent of illiteracy (20.00%). Primary education was playing major role (43.75%) followed by secondary education (25.00%), pre-university education (18.75%) and above graduation level education (12.50%) among intensive sheep farmers. These findings were in line with the reports given by Suresh et al. (2008); Rajanna et al. (2012).

Occupation level. Under main occupation category, most of the farmers were shepherds (45.00%) followed by agriculturists (40.00%) and businessmen (15.00%). Sheep rearing (35.00%) came in second in the sub-occupation area, with agriculture and related activities accounting for (55.00%) of the total. Business (10.00%) as a source of income for intensive sheep farmers. These outputs were in concurrence to the outcomes of Thiruvenkadan et al. (2004); Kuldeep et al. (2006).

Family type and size. Nuclear type of family was most adapted by (65.00%) of sheep farmers followed by (35.00%) of them were having joint family. Farmers were having small family size (55.00%) majorly followed by medium (25.00%) and large (20.00%) family sizes in intensive sheep rearers. These observations were incompatible with the results of Thilakar and Krishnaraj (2010); Mastanbi et al. (2017).

Farming experience. Most of the farmers had medium farming experience (55.00%) followed by high (40.00%) and low (05.00%) farming experiences under overall farming. Medium sheep rearing experience (40.00%) followed by high (35.00%) and low (25.00%) sheep rearing experiences were evidential among intensive sheep farmers. The similar findings were noted by Anandarao (2010); Rajanna et al. (2012).

Land holding capacity. The majority of sheep farmers were large land holders (65.00%) followed by small (20.00%) and marginal (15.00%) land holders under intensive rearing system. These results are consistent with those reports of Rajapandi (2005); Kandasamy et al. (2006).

Social participation. Sheep farmers under social participation had one organizational activity (65.00%) followed by two or more organizational participation (20.00%), public representativeness (10.00%) and office bearing (05.00%) as their social activities under intensive sheep rearing farmers. The familiar outcomes were reported by Thilakar and Krishnaraj (2010); Kumar et al. (2012).

Table 1: Sheep farmers distribution based on their socio-economic domains in intensive rearing system.

n- Number of shepherds, F- Frequencies, %- Percentage

Fig. 2. Assessor surveying the sheep farmer in intensive farm.

Fig. 3. Kenguri sheep under intensive rearing system.

By this work we may conclude that, there is an increasing need to encourage more and more educated young people to get involved in sheep farming because of the growing demand for mutton, which makes it necessary to improvise in sheep rearing by implementing cutting-edge technology. It was clear that implementing scientific sheep management techniques and heeding veterinarians' recommendations about medical care would reduce the percentage of sheep mortality and enhance the financial well-being of shepherds.

The study of socio-economic status of Kenguri sheep farmers in intensive rearing system may be benefit task for sheep rearing community in economically deprived rural areas in near future.

Kanakaraja M.G., Sagar M., Chitra Juniwal, Syeda Nelofer Afnan, E.N. Reddy and Kartik (2024). Kenguri Sheep Farmers Socio-economic Status under Intensive Rearing System in Yadgir, Karnataka. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 16(2): 94-97.