Determinants of Artificial Insemination Use by Smallholder Dairy Farmers in Lemu-Bilbilo District, Ethiopia

Despite Ethiopia possessing the highest number of livestock in Africa, its benefit to the country and smallholder farmers is small as more than 99% of the cattle are indigenous breeds with low yield. Though the government introduced Artificial Insemination (AI) technology to improve this condition, the adoption rate by smallholder farmers is still low. The objectives of the study were to determine factors affecting adoption and the extent of adoption of among smallholder dairy farmers in Lemu-Bilbilo district of Ethiopia. Data from 196 smallholder dairy farmers was collected using semi-structured questionnaire. The study utilized double-hurdle model for analysis where the two stages were run separately as Probit and truncated regression, respectively. Contacts with extension agents, access to credit, income from milk sales, feeding concentrate to cows and family size influenced the probability of adoption without affecting the extent of adoption. While membership in dairy cooperatives and off-farm income positively affected the probability and extent of AI adoption, distance from AI station and access to crossbred bull services influenced both variables negatively. Education level and efficiency of AI service had positive impact on the extent of AI use; whereas experience in keeping cross-breeds and years of using AI had negative influence on same. Much work should be done to improve the accessibility of AI service by expanding AI stations throughout the district, by training more AI technicians and by encouraging private involvement. Adult education and education in farmers training centres can be the way forward to improve educational status of farmers. Bureau of Agriculture must work to improve access to credit and extension services; established dairy cooperatives have to be strengthened and more need to be established. Keywords: adoption, artificial insemination, double hurdle mode