Determinants of adoption of forage technologies among peri-urban dairy farmers in the semi-arid region of South Eastern Kenya

Abstract

Semi-arid peri-urban environment holds great potential for dairy development to meet the high demand for milk and become a livelihood support strategy. In support for dairy production, forage technologies were promoted among dairy farmers in order to improve the performance of the sector and contribute to poverty reduction. However, the level and determinants of adoption of selected forage technologies in relation to dairy production is still unknown. To address this, 150 dairy farmers, with 120 purposively selected from a list of dairy farmers and 30 additional dairy farmers randomly selected in the peri-urban areas of Machakos and Wote Towns. The primary data collected using semi-structured questionnaire were coded, organized and analysed using descriptive statistics to generate means, frequencies, percentages and chi-square tests. In addition, a logistic regression model was used to evaluate the determinants of adoption of selected forage technologies among dairy farmers in the study areas. The findings of this study show that the levels of adoption of the forage technologies among dairy farmers were low at p<0.05. Age, gender and family size of the household head were found to be insignificant in influencing adoption of most forage innovations. Access to extension, expected milk yield, land tenure and years of experience in dairying greatly influenced adoption of fodder crops; land tenure system, type of feeding and access to extension influenced adoption of tumbukiza method; years of experience of dairying, access to extension and expected milk yield greatly influenced adoption of conservation technologies; type of feeding and years of experience dairying influenced adoption of hay barn technology while education and experience of the farmer greatly influenced adoption of feedstuff chopping. Establishment of improved fodder crops, use of tumbukiza technology, use of hay and silage conservation technique, intensifying extension in form of farm visits, improvement of water supply and improvement of access of affordable artificial insemination services and increased availability of skilled artificial inseminators were identified as mitigation measures to enhance adoption and continued use of selected forage technologies and improve dairy production in semi-arid regions of south eastern Kenya.