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Abstract
This study has been conducted to optimize farm plans in different farming
systems in Orathanadu block of the Thanjavur district in Tamil Nadu by
randomly selecting 150 livestock farmers from 6 villages. A linear
programming (LP) model has been developed to arrive at the optimal farm
plans for different categories of farms (landless, marginal, small and large)
separately. The net returns from dairying have been found as Rs 25,864,
which is about 29.7 per cent to the total and it also could contribute
maximum to employment (55 per cent). The optimal plan for small-farmer
category has revealed that dairy animals have contributed maximum net
returns (Rs 31,640) to the aggregate net returns (Rs 49,105). Dairy animals
have also generated an employment of 840 humandays as against 45, 80
and 38.6 humandays, from paddy–I, paddy–II and groundnut crops,
respectively. The optimal plan for marginal farmers has indicated that dairy
animals and sheep could be more attractive in terms of income and
employment generation. Optimal plan for landless households has revealed
that 5 dairy animals, 15 goats and 15 sheep could be valuable for increasing
their income and employment. Income increase in the optimal farm plans
has been found maximum (223.5 per cent) in large-farmer category, followed
by small (192.7 per cent), marginal (180.1 per cent) and landless households
(116 per cent). The increase in employment of family labour in the optimal
plan over the existing plan in all categories has indicated that optimal
combination of enterprises could reduce unemployment.