Adoption of Improved Dairy Cows and Implications for Household Food Security: Evidence in Central Highland of Ethiopia
Crop-livestock production is the main livelihood strategy for rural households of Ethiopia. However, it is constrained by low level of adoption for agricultural technologies. The objectives of this study are, therefore: analyzing adoption of dairy cow technology and examining the contribution of the technology to household food security. The study is conducted in Gudo Beret watershed, North Shewa, Ethiopia. Primary and secondary data were collected from different sources. In the watershed, 211 respondents were selected through systematic random sampling. Expert consultation, household interview, key informants, focused groups, and personal observation were the main data collection methods. Descriptive statistics, inferential tests, multivariate tools, and econometric models have used for data analysis. The results showed that the rate of adoption for improved dairy cows is low and slow in terms of proportion of households and size of cows, respectively. Binary Logit model indicated that hired labor, social responsibility, and livestock size influenced the adoption of improved dairy cows significantly and positively while land holding size affected the technology significantly and negatively. Production of improved dairy cows contributes for household food security. Although the correlation of improved dairy cows and food security is positive, it is very low and insignificant.
