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.