Adoption and Impacts of Dairy Production Technologies in Southwest Ethiopia: The Cases of Jimma and Ilu- Ababora Zones

Abstract

The study was aimed to assess access, use and impacts of dairy production technologies on the livelihood of smallholder farmers. A structured and pretested questionnaire was used to collect the data from randomly selected 240 respondents in Jimma and Ilu- Ababora zones of southwest Ethiopia. The result of the study witnessed that there was a significant difference between milk yield of cross and local breed in all lactation periods. A significant difference between adopters and non-adopters was also seen on number of local bulls, number of chickens, income from sale of cattle, availability of farm assets, and nutrition diversity and availability. The logistic regression result revealed that distance to artificial insemination center affected the adoption decision negatively and significantly. Economic factors such as land, labor and income or cash was also seen as positive and significant relation on the adoption decision. On other hands, frequency of extension visits and training on dairy management affects the adoption decision positively. The result from Tobit model also shows extension and credit services affect extent of adoption positively and distance to market, distance to veterinary services and family size affects negatively. Therefore, huge emphasis should be provided in building infrastructural facilities that enhance dairy technology adoption and in improving farmers’ awareness, understanding and perception through training, demonstration, field visits and experience sharing at different levels.

Keywords: Adopter, Artificial insemination, Lactation, logistic regression, Non adopter