Abstract
The study was carried out with the specific objective of analyzing the socio-economic factors affecting adoption of dairy cattle milk production technologies by smallholder dairy farmers in Mosop Sub County, Nandi County, Kenya. The study was guided by Innovation Diffusion Theory and descriptive research design was used. Cluster sampling and simple random sampling techniques were used to collect data from a sample of 198 smallholder dairy farmers, 70 large scale dairy farmers and 30 extension staff. To estimate the survey data, multivariate probit regression model was used. Descriptive statistics results revealed that 90% of smallholder dairy farmers were male-headed with 16.8 years of farming experience. Multivariate probit regression results showed that an increase in education level of the household head increased the marginal effect of adopting milking equipment by 7.5 percentage points. Results further revealed that a unit increase in the years of experience in dairy farming by the dairy farmers’ household head resulted in a decrease in the marginal effect of adopting the vaccination regime by 24 percentage points, whereas gender of the household head increased the marginal probability of adopting milk equipment technologies by 56 percentage points. Male gender of the household head also increased the marginal effect probability of adopting dairy cattle vaccination regime technologies by 103 percentage points. Therefore, farmer to farmer exchange visits needs to be strengthened, introduction of farmers’ mentorship programmes and revamping of extension service are paramount for technology adoption. Consequently, the county and national governments and their agencies should come up with strategies that would enhance the capacities of the dairy farmers so that they can continue appreciating new dairy cattle milk production technologies. Key words: Dairy cattle milk production technologies, smallholder dairy farmers, multivariate probit regression.
Highlights
The Kenyan dairy sector is composed of over 625,000 smallholder dairy farmers who are distributed throughout the country
Results of the multivariate probit regression model revealed that age of the household head had a positive marginal effect on the adoption of dairy cattle milk equipment technologies
A unit increase in age of the dairy farmer household head increased the marginal probability of adopting milk equipment technology by 1.1 percentage points
Summary
The Kenyan dairy sector is composed of over 625,000 smallholder dairy farmers who are distributed throughout the country. Kenyan smallholder dairy farmers have always remained in the lead in embracing modern technologies in the region even though they have not reached the desired levels (Mekonnen et al, 2009). These technologies include growing of leguminous crops to supplement dairy cattle dietary requirements, artificial insemination, disease and pest control and commercial feed rations (Ouma et al, 2007). Some of examples of dairy cattle production technologies according to Mekonnen et al (2009) are deworming, rotational grazing, better animal feed techniques and improved management, use of acaricides, crossbred animals, improved methods of detecting heat, vaccination, baling of hay, silage making and fodder beet
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