PERCEPTION OF TRIBAL AND NON–TRIBAL DAIRY FARMERS TOWARDS THE DAIRY FARMING IN CHHATTISGARH STATE: STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING APPROACH

Abstract

Dairy farming is a secondary occupation for millions of farmers in the Central Indian State of Chhattisgarh. This study used the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to determine how tribal and non-tribal dairy farmers in Chhattisgarh perceive about dairy farming and what makes them feel that way. In this study, the data was gathered from dairy farmers during 2020–21. The results of the paired sample t-test showed that both tribal and non-tribal farmers are performing significantly. In the Principal Component Analysis, KMO’s sample adequacy test result was 0.724, which means there were enough signs in each element to study. Twelve items of dairy farmers’ perceptions were conglomerated into three factors: rational perception, opportunistic perception, and scientific perception. The results of the SEM showed that the absolute fit indices match the sample data and that the proposed model is a good fit because it matches the values of the perception items.