Assessing use of farming technologies on dairy farms in Bubaare sub-county Mbarara district

Abstract

Dairy farming remains the economic backbone of livestock farmers in Bubaare sub county; Mbarara district. However, milk production has been low (DDA, 2021). This is an indication that there are constraints contributing to this low milk production. Farming technologies are known to increase productivity on farms. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess use of farming technologies on dairy farms in Bubaare sub county. The specific objectives of the study were: 1. To find out farming technologies used on respective farms; 2. To find out farming technologies used and later abandoned; 3. To determine factors influencing adoption and abandoning of these farming technologies on respective dairy farms. A structured questionnaire was used to collect information from 100 dairy farmers. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20, and presented as descriptive and inferential statistics. All dairy farmers adopted at least one form of biosecurity technology on their farm. The percentage use of other technologies varied with 28%,2%, and 10% adopting a form of nutritional, reproduction and production technologies respectively. In addition, the study revealed a significant relationship between semi-intensive production system and adoption of farming technologies (p-value<0.001). Technology abandonment was observed under nutritional, biosecurity and production technologies. The most common reasons for technology abandonment were high costs and machine break down.