ASSESSMENT OF DAIRY CATTLE PRODUCTION PRACTICES, TRADITIONAL MILK PROCESSING, CONSUMPTION AND MARKETING IN MIRAB BADEWACHO DISTRICT OF HADIYYA ZONE, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA.

Abstract

A study was conducted in Mirab Badewacho District of Hadiyya Zone, to assess the dairy cattle production practices, traditional milk processing, consumption and marketing systems in the area. This study was conducted from May2019 up to June, 2020. Five kebeles were selected from the district, two from highland and three from mid-altitude. A total of 138 dairy producers were randomly selected using multi-stage sampling techniques. Formal survey was conducted using structured questionnaire to collect both quantitative and qualitative data on data sets that explore dairy cattle production practices, traditional milk processing, consumption and marketing systems. The major milk production system practiced in the study area was crop livestock mixed production system. The effect of agro-ecology and genotype of dairy cows were used to evaluate milk production and reproductive performances variations. In the study district, an appreciable number of crossbred cows notably Jersey crosses (40.6%), still with (51.4%) local and (8%) HF crossbred cows were raised by dairy cattle milk producers. The cattle herd size of households was within the range 1-4 heads. In farm households who keep mainly local cattle breeds, lactating cows (0.75±0.036) and oxen (0.95±0.055) mainly dominate the herd composition while in case of cross breed (0.57±0.093) and (0.37±0.029) lactating cow and heifer were dominant, respectively. The composition of livestock was higher in midland than highland agro ecology which accounts 4.95TLU compared to 4.66 TLU. The overall mean milk yield obtained were (1.90±0.08) and (5.16±0.12) litres from local and Jersey cross cattle breed, respectively. The average milk off-take of 1.71 and 4.64litres, from local and Jersey cross breed, respectively. The overall average lactation length was 8.71±0.18 months for local cows, while it was 9.7±0.13 months for Jersey crossbreed cows. Overall mean for CI was 19.02±0.24 months for local cows and 15.97±0.17 months for Jersey crossbreed cows. Mean AFC for a local cow was4.57±0.07 years, while Jersey crosses breed cows had 2.98±0.05years. The typical dairy products in the study area were “Hadaro” in local name (culturally made from first two up to three week milked and fermented milk after calving) and “Shiffa” in local name (made culturally from partially churning sour milk. An informal dairy marketing system was the only marketing system in the study district. In general, the market share of whole milk/fermented milk was almost negligible in rural areas of the district, while butter and cheese was comparatively the most marketable commodity in the study area. Lack of improved forage, low milk yield of local cows, and high price of concentrate feed were mentioned by farmers as major constraints of milk production. In general, this study showed that despite the available cattle population and conducive agro-climate for dairy development, the performance of milk production in the study district was low and milk marketing system was undeveloped due to many constraints such as marketing channel, transport access, poor quality of milk and institutional related constraints. Therefore, dairy cattle milk production can be improved by solving constraints such as low milk yield of local cattle’s, feed shortage, health care, general husbandry and milk processing facilities, AI and extension services and developing efficient marketing systems.