Preference for Dairying Among Rural Women Doing Domestic Duties in India: An Econometric Analysis of Unit Level Data from NSS 68th Round Employment-Unemployment Survey

India is the largest producer of milk and its rural women engaged in domestic duties are the pivotal players in this small holder family production system. Though National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) has been publishing special reports on the preferred choice for additional work, among rural women engaged in domestic duties, we do not find any analysis in the literature on the subject. This paper, through an econometric framework, aims to contribute towards bridging this research gap, by investigating how individual characteristics such as social group, occupational type of households, age, literacy, geographical location and income levels affect preference for dairying, as an additional vocation. Thereafter, it also analyses the presence of requisite skill and form of assistance sought for taking up this vocation. The state wise and zone wise disaggregation provides a rich understanding of the local effects and varied profile of women seeking dairying as a means of additional income. These results can be useful for policy makers not only in planning and designing of dairy development programs for rural women across the country but also for rural employment and empowerment programs for women.