A geographical study of sheep farming in latur district maharashtra

The livestock sector plays a multi-faceted role in the socio-economic development of rural households. Livestock rearing has a significant positive impact on equity in terms of income and employment and poverty reduction in rural areas as the distribution of livestock is more egalitarian as compared to land. In India, over 70 percent of rural households own livestock and a majority of livestock-owning households are small, marginal and landless households. The sheep is an important economic livestock species contributing greatly to the agrarian Indian economy, especially in arid, semi-arid and hilly areas. They play an important role in the livelihood of a large number of small and marginal farmers and landless laborers engaged in sheep rearing. Sheep’s are mostly reared to obtain meat and wool as commercial goods. Sheep skin and wool is used by a number of rural based industries as raw material. Sheep manure is an important source of organic fertilizer for increasing soil fertility. The entire investigation is based on field observation and secondary sources of data obtained from Socio-Economic review and District Statistical Abstract and livestock census hand book. The study concludes that from last a decade number of sheep population is decreased in throughout the district. The distribution of sheep population in Latur district is uneven. The district as a whole has a 100.15 density of sheep per 100-hectare land, but the spatial distribution varies from tehsil to tehsil. During period of investigation district as a whole has a -94.3 negative changes in the density of sheeps. The aim of present paper is to assess growth, distribution and changes in Latur district of Maharashtra (Dr.Kiran Khalangre, 2022).