Ranking of the Constraints Faced by the Khoya Producers in Production and Marketing of Khoya, in Almora District of Uttarakhand, India

The Almora district in Uttarakhand is renowned for its roasted khoya, a processed milk product. Khoya is sourced from the rural areas surrounding Almora, and its production and marketing play a vital role in supporting the local economy. In light of this, a comprehensive study was conducted to assess and rank the challenges faced by khoya producers throughout the production and marketing processes.To conduct this study, various constraints were identified, and a sample of 200 khoya producers supplying their products to nearby markets was selected through a multistage sampling approach. These producers were personally interviewed to gather insights into their challenges. The study employed the Garrett ranking technique to determine the relative importance of these constraints in the khoya production and marketing context. The findings of the study revealed that in the production stage, the most significant challenges were a lack of knowledge concerning cattle disease symptoms with mean score of 58.16, high cost of feed for dairy animals, with mean score of 54.33. In the marketing stage, the primary constraints along with their mean scores included post-preparation losses (70.78), low prices obtained for khoya, (60.47) delayed payment (51.78), and ongoing storage issues (27.00). In light of these results, it is evident that there is an urgent need to improve veterinary services to address the issue of cattle disease symptoms, as well as to establish fair pricing mechanisms in the rural belts under consideration. These measures are essential to support and sustain the khoya industry and the livelihoods of the local producers.