Factors Affecting Adoption of Clean and Safe Milk Production Practices in Kerala

Aneetta V Antony; Ajay Verma; Biswajit Sen; Anil Kumar Dixit

Abstract

The pattern of adoption of clean and safe milk production practices among 210 farmers selected from three districts Kollam, Thiruvananthapuram, and Palakkad was analyzed. An attempt was made for the development of the Clean and Safe Milk Production Index (CSMPI) based on the responses received from the farmers. The CSMPI associated with the risk of contamination hazard had thehighest mean score, whereas among all the indices, storage-related CSMPI values showed the biggest standard deviation. A mean adoption score of 65 out of 95 practices was found during the study. The factors affecting adoption, complementary, substitutive behavior, and spatial effect involved in adoption were captured using seemingly unrelated regression with the developed indices as the dependent variables. While substitutive adoption was seen between the risk of contamination hazard- related CSMP practices and health and milking environment-related CSMP practices, complementary adaptive behavior was seen between storage-related CSMP practices, health, and milking environment-related CSMP practices, and risk of contamination hazard-related CSMP practices. When it came to storage-related CSMP practices, farmers in Palakkad exhibited a negative spatial effect, but in contrast, when it came to health and milking environment-related CSMP practices and risk of contamination hazard-related CSMP practices, a positive spatial effect was observed for the same population. The results of the study indicated the need to step up institutional support and training programs in the state that would motivate the farmers and increase the level of clean and safe milk production.

Abstract

Keywords