An Investigation into the Role of Livestock Extension Services in Influencing Dairy Farming in District Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Abstract

Pakistan is an agricultural country and about three quarters of its total population is engaged in this sector, due to inappropriate extension services and poor management practices by farmers little has been achieved so far. This study was carried out in District Mardan of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2025, with the objectives to examine the socio-economic characteristics of dairy farmers, to identify the main problems faced by them. The research was carried out by selecting 5 villages purposively from district Mardan namely Shergarh, Toru, Baghdada, Katlang, and Rustam using multi stage cluster sampling technique. The total number of sampling respondents were 105. Result showed that majority of the respondents (72%) were middle age and (88.6%) were literate, (63.8%) work for full time in their farms, majority of farmers have cows and buffaloes as dairy animals, while some have sheeps and goats. Majority of milk production of dairy animals range between 11 to 50L and they sale their product in wholesale. About 90% farmers were aware of extension services but half of them did not interact with them and those who interact with farmers are only when they need some help. The farmers were not satisfied from the livestock extension services. They used social media for getting information about dairy farming because there is no other source or training program which give any information about the dairy farming. The dairy farmers faced many challenges in dairy farming and accessing the livestock extension officers. The visits by livestock extension officers were not regular. The study recommends that livestock extension agents may increase visits, restore farmers’ confidence and start some programs on media. Besides this the concerned department should provide interest free loans, skills and information regarding credits and vaccinations and medication.