K. Ponnusamy

Responsiveness of dairy research in generating improved dairy practices in West Shewa zone of Oromia, Ethiopia.

Dairy research has been undertaking since 1960s in Ethiopia. However, the majority of the farmers still continue to adopt traditional dairy practices. This study was made to look into the current status of dairy research in generating responsive improved dairy practices. To achieve the objective of the study, cross sectional survey was employed using 50 researchers in the area of livestock sector. A systematic sampling technique was employed to identify the sample respondents. Holistically, to capture all the relevant information, mixed methods such as focus group discussion, key informant interview, questionnaire and observation were used for data collection. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, content analysis and ranking. The study clearly indicated that the improved dairy practices generation process of the study area was less responsive mainly due to lack of clear dairy research strategy. Evidently, low dairy productivity and low level use of improved dairy practices are the key indicators. Likewise, inadequate laboratory equipments, inadequate laboratory facility (building) and inadequate budget support were the central constraints of the dairy research in order of their importance. Generally, in the dairy research efforts of several decades, the numbers of generated, disseminated and adopted improved dairy practices were not worth mentioning. It necessitates formulation of dairy research strategy that leads to the generation of responsive improved dairy practices which, in turn, brings significant impact on the dairy development.

Divergence of Adoption Decision among Adopters and Non-adopters of Improved Dairy Practices in Ambo District of Oromia, Ethiopia: A Case Study

Dairying is the main farming activity of Ambo district. Improved dairy practices are being promoted in the area since the late 1970s, despite majority of the farmers still practising traditional dairy practices. This study was made to explore the major factors that cause disparity of adoption decision among the farmers. Case study approach was employed for collecting the data by using observation, key informant interview and focus group discussion. Focus Group Discussion was held with three groups, each comprising 10 respondents (five adopters and five non-adopters). The number of respondents was determined based on the saturation of the information required to address the objective of the study. The findings evidently indicated that the perceived factors that non-adopters pointed out for not adopting dairy technologies were high cost of improved dairy technologies, susceptibility of crossbred to disease and absence of compensation mechanism, absence of ready market, lack of common goal for farmers and intervening organisations, diversified advantage of local cattle (threshing by trampling of cattle, soil compaction of Teff field, Ploughing with oxen etc.), and inappropriate selection of model farmers. On the other hand, adopters of dairy technologies stated that presence of adequate income for overcoming risks associated with technology failure was the main reason for deciding adoption of dairy technologies. Thus, improving the income of farmers is vital for increasing their adoption decision of dairy technology. For the purpose, arranging accessible credit services, insurance scheme and technical back-up on dairy technology are paramount importance for exploiting the existing dairy potential of the study area.