Sanober Rasool¹*, SA Hamdani¹, A Fayaz², B Zaffer², B Nabi³, S Akhtar⁴, S Taifa⁵, A Hai¹ and AH Akand¹

¹Division of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Extension (SKUAST K), Jammu and Kashmir, India
²Division of Livestock Production and Management (SKUAST K), Jammu and Kashmir, India
³Division of Veterinary Medicine (SKUAST J), Jammu and Kashmir, India
⁴Division of Animal Genetics and Breeding (SKUAST K), Jammu and Kashmir, India
⁵Division of Veterinary Clinical Medicine, Ethics and Jurisprudence (SKUAST K), Jammu and Kashmir, India

*Corresponding Author: Sanober Rasool, Division of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Extension (SKUAST K), Jammu and Kashmir, India.

Received: November 11, 2021; Published: January 31, 2022

Abstract

The present study was purposively carried out in Kashmir Division of Jammu and Kashmir state that was severely hit by devastating floods in September 2014. The main aim of the study was to elaborate the socio-economic profile and disaster resilience among the farmers involved in livestock rearing when floods hit the Kashmir valley in September 2014. The major findings of the study were that majority of the livestock farmers belonged to middle age group of 41 - 60 years with the average age of 50.48 and were mostly illiterate (55.42%) with herd size of 2-3 cattle/buffalo (65.42%) average herd size being 2.00. On the other hand, majority of the respondents (49.58) were having herd size of 1 - 10 with respect to small ruminants (sheep/goat) with the average being 2.32. A sizeable portion of respondents (48.75%) were having backyard poultry in the range of 1 - 21 poultry birds per household with the highest mean of 9 poultry birds per household reported from Bandipora District. Major findings indicated that most of the respondents (96.25%) had no formal social participation except for presence of religion-based participation. With respect to the communication pattern adopted by livestock farmers, majority of them had a low level of extension contact with the informal sources like family members, friends etc. and a medium level of extension contact with the formal sources like Veterinarians, LSA etc. They also had a least exposure to mass media sources related to livestock rearing practices. The findings also showed that the application of indigenous knowledge in the face of hazards and other threats was almost getting diminished as majority of respondents of the study didn’t rely on the traditional warning practices/indicators for predicting disaster like floods. Careful selection of building materials was one of the preventive measures taken in advance to reduce the impact of flood by the livestock owners. Education and income were found positively and significantly (p < 0.05) related with level of preparedness of respondents. With respect to economic losses only income was positively and highly significantly (p < 0.01) correlated. Cattle/Buffalo herd size was positive and highly significant (p < 0.01) and that of Sheep/Goat herd size was also positive and significant (p < 0.05) in relation with level of preparedness of respondents to meet disasters. Further flock size of Sheep/Goat was negatively but significantly correlated (p < 0.05) with economic losses suffered by respondents during floods of 2014. Moreover, mass media exposure was also positively and highly significantly correlated (p < 0.01) in relation with the level of preparedness of respondents to meet disasters like floods and that with respect to economic losses suffered by livestock farmer during floods of 2014 it was negatively but significantly correlated (p < 0.05). As far as awareness about zoonotic disease transmitted and livestock rearing safety practices of respondents was concerned, it was found that they were positively and highly significant (p < 0.01) in relation with level of preparedness of respondents to meet any natural calamity.

Keywords: Disaster; Extension Contact; Indigenous; Livestock; Mitigation; Preparedness; Social Participation

References

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Citation

Citation: Sanober Rasool., et al. “Socio Economic Context and Disaster Resilience Among the Farmers Involved in Livestock Rearing in Flood Affected Zones of Kashmir Valley". Acta Scientific Veterinary Sciences 4.2 (2022): 124-131.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2022 Sanober Rasool., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.