LIVESTOCK SERVICES IN RURAL INDIA

The Governments in India have been extending livestock services to the rural poor at a huge subsidy through their vast veterinary institutional network built up, recognising its significance. Growing fiscal pressures had left the governments to bring down their priorities towards improving the quality of public provision of these services. Initiatives aimed at increased cost recovery, that could alleviate these financial difficulties, are often deferred on the assumption that the farmers would not be willing to pay. This book, a part of PhD thesis submitted to the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai, India, explores the cost and uptake of livestock services by farmers in southern India. Besides a rigorous analysis of the demand for livestock services and the factors influencing the demand, this book gives a thorough insight into the farmers' Willingness To Pay (WTP) for livestock services. The probability of stating a positive WTP values for respondents of zero WTP, were estimated, besides ascertaining the scope for private veterinary services. These aforementioned factors make this book very much useful to the livestock policy makers and researchers.