Socio-Economic Profile of Sheep Rearing Community in Bandipora District of Jammu and Kashmir

A survey was conducted to study the socio-economic condition of sheep rearing community in Bandipora district of Kashmir. The district was divided into low-lying(Sonawari), medium altitude (Bandipora) and High altitude (Gurez) regions. Multi-stagerandom sampling was done in which 20% villages were selected from each region in thefirst stage through proportionate random sampling and 20 respondents from each selectedvillage in second stage through simple random sampling. A total of 480 respondents(Sonawari=200, Bandipora=160, Gurez=120) from 24 villages were considered for thesurvey. It was observed that majority of the sheep rearers (59.79%) were illiterate withproportion of such respondents being significantly higher (p<0.05) in Gurez (68.33%) thanSonawari (54.0%) region. Majority (65.8%) of sheep rearers in the district were havingmedium size families (5-8 members) with an average family size of 6.60±0.129 withmajority (86.7%) of the families being nuclear type. Overall district figure indicates thatagriculture as primary and sheep farming as sub-occupation represents the source oflivelihood of majority of sheep rearers in Sonawari region (67% vs 62%) and the district asa whole (36.9% vs 39.17%). Majority (49.38%) of sheep rearers in the district were fallingin the income group of 11,000-20,000 Rs/month with proportion of such respondents beingsignificantly higher (p<0.05) in Sonawari (57.5%) and Bandipora (51.88%) than Gurez(32.5%) region. The average land holding per household of sheep rearers in terms ofirrigated, non-irrigated (rainfed) and total land was 5.92±0.395, 5.30±0.311 and11.21±0.572 kanals, respectively. The average land holding/household (irrigated) wassignificantly higher (p<0.05) in Sonawari (10.28±0.734kanals) than Bandipora(4.56±0.504) and Gurez region (0.44±0.124). There was comparatively higher proportion(30.63%) of sheep rearers with a sheep rearing experience of 10-15 years followed bythose with an experience of above 20 years (24.17%). Majority (66.88%) of the sheeprearing households involved participation of atleast one woman in various sheep farmingactivities. It is concluded that sheep rearing is an important secondary occupation in thedistrict involving significant women participation but is primarily in the hands of poor andilliterate people with low income and marginal land holding.