Silage Practice and the Factors Related to its Adoption in the Chief Area (Northwest Algeria)

The study is aimed at exploring the decision to adopt silage practice among the farmers with a special interest in determining reasons behind the failure to adopt the practice.

The information was obtained in the form of structured face-to-face interviews of 526 farmers carried out between February 2024 and June 2025. The discussion analyzes the impact of the demographical factor, farm characteristics and other situational factors on the extent of uptake of silage technology.

The results indicate that adoption of silage is far too low in the study region. However, a statistically significant correlation (P<0.05) was found between silage adoption and the major occupation of the respondent, whereby livestock breeders were more likely to adopt silage than those in other agricultural positions. Of all the farm-related factors, the production of grain and fodder crops indicates a close correlation with silage practice (P<0.05) and fodder producers are more likely to embrace the practice. Additionally, the purchase of land by farmers makes them more likely to adopt silage than when land is inherited. The majority of the respondents use silage, but not from their own production and they manage semi-developed farms. The study also highlights the major impediments to adoption, which include technical constraints and scarcity of water, both of which have demonstrated a significant statistical (P<0.05) effect on the non-adoption rates. Based on such findings, it is recommended that support strategies that focus on the promotion of silage practice should be implemented.