Potential of geographical Indications towards sustainability: Stakeholder perceptions from the Attapady black goat production system

Geographical Indications (GIs) can significantly influence the sustainability of origin-based production systems and the broader territory. The Attapady Black goat, a unique native genetic resource traditionally reared by indigenous communities of Attapady, exemplifies such a system. Its low-input rearing practices and reputation for ethnically valued high-quality meat, position it as a potential candidate for GI status. This study assessed stakeholders’ perceptions of the potential of GI towards sustainability of the indigenous production system of Attapady Black goat and its products, using a content-validated, reliability-tested scale. High perception levels were reported across all respondent categories and sustainability domains. For the domain of economic sustainability, governance actors, intermediaries and consumers showed significantly higher perceptions than producers. As for overall sustainability, consumers and governance actors demonstrated significantly greater perception compared to producers. Based on domain-wise mean scores of respondents and distribution of respondents based on their perceptions, a high level of perception was observed across all three domains of sustainability, and the majority of respondents demonstrated high level of perception in each domain.