Impact of Pashu Bhagya Scheme on the Farmer’s Livelihood in Vijayapura, Karnataka State, India

Background: Animal husbandry plays an important role in improving the livelihood status of farmers. The Pashu Bhagya Scheme was formulated based on the guidelines of the Central Government Schemes viz., Dairy Entrepreneurship Development Programme (DEDP) and National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM). It was started in 2015 to enhance the livelihood status of the small and marginal farmers, agricultural labourers, widows, devadasis and distressed women through livestock. Methodology: The study was conducted for systematic measurement and comparison of Pashu Bhagya Scheme beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries’ livelihood status in the year 2022. The research was carried out by randomly selecting 90 beneficiaries and 30 non-beneficiaries of Pashu Bhagya Scheme from Vijayapura and Indi taluks using Expost-facto research design. Results: The overall livelihood status of Pashu Bhagya Scheme beneficiaries was quite higher than that of non-beneficiaries. More than half of the beneficiaries had medium level of livelihood status (51.11 %) while, 53.33 per cent of the non-beneficiaries had low level of livelihood status. Among the beneficiaries, 47.78 per cent had medium level and among the non-beneficiaries 60.00 per cent of the had low level of assets. The Majority of the beneficiaries (82.22 %) and non-beneficiaries (63.34%) had medium and low level of food and nutritional status, respectively. More than half of the beneficiaries (62.22 %) and non-beneficiaries (56.67 %) had average level of coping strategies to overcome crisis. Conclusion: Hence, there is a need to improve the livelihood status of non-beneficiaries by creating awareness about existing programmes, motivating them to utilize the programmes, providing required facilities like technical guidance, inputs, employment opportunities and marketing to carry out farming effectively.