COMMUNICATION OF INDIGENOUS MESSAGES ON ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AMONG FARM WOMEN

Tyagi S, Singhal A. and Gupta P.

Learning from farmers is relevant not only in developing countries but in India also, since the dawn of its history. During its subsequent periods farmers have evolved several technologies through trial and error, keen observation, evaluation etc. All these technologies which are based upon one’s own experience may be environmentally sound, cost effective and acceptable to farm families, since they are being used from generations.
In India, the field of animal husbandry is one where farm women spend most of their time in care of livestock herds, milking the animals & subsequent processing of milk. Animal husbandry has been an integral part of human civilization and culture from the day primitive man started domestication of wild animals.
The Indian rural woman by tradition have assumed substantial role in the upkeep of animals and in this process use indigenous knowledge. According to Farrington and Martin (1988) Indigenous knowledge is not an abstract scientific knowledge. It is concrete and relies strongly on intuition, historical experience and directly perceivable evidence. This knowledge finds a wider scope in rural areas as this is based upon one’s own experience and may be environmentally sound, cost effective and acceptable to farm families, since they are being used from generations.
But, now a days with the advent of science and technology, developments are taking place in every field. Thus there is a danger of even the age old knowledge getting lost as these methods have overshadowed the traditional knowledge. The emphasis, therefore, has to be on systems perspective in agricultural research i.e. blending of traditional and frontier technologies.
Thus, there is an urgent need to safeguard and reaffirm traditional knowledge. Unless we make urgent and quicker efforts to track this valuable knowledge, it will be lost soon, not to be regained in future at any cost.
In the present study an effort was therefore made to find out the traditional animal husbandry practices of farm women of Udaipur district of Rajasthan State, India. These practices were further scientifically validated for further dissemination among the farming community. All the five aspects of animal husbandry i.e. feeding, breeding, management, health care and clean milk production were taken up for study.
The findings of the study revealed that those practices which are the store house of knowledge of rural women need to be documented, validated and communicated effectively through appropriate communication techniques.

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