Influence of farmer field school extension approach on smallholders’ knowledge and skills of dairy management technologies in Molo Division, Nakuru District of Kenya

Abstract

Implementation of Farmer Field School (FFS) extension approach in disseminating knowledge and skills on management technologies for crop production, crop pests, soil and water conservation (CPSWC) has had proven successes. To replicate its successes, FFS was extended to smallholder dairy production as an alternative to the conventional extension approaches (NFFS) which had proved ineffective in disseminating knowledge and skills on dairy management technologies (DMTs). However many management aspects of CPSWC may not be applicable in dairy production. This raises the question as to whether the successes of FFS in CPSWC can be replicated successfully in disseminating DMTs to smallholders. This study assessed the influence FFS has had on farmers’ knowledge and skills on DMTs in Molo division where FFS has been applied in smallholder dairying. A stratified random sampling cross-sectional survey conducted obtained participating farmers, 94 in FFS and 72 in NFFS. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data on knowledge and skills on aspects of DMTs, which included Artificial Insemination (AI), calf rearing, dairy cow feeding, control of mastitis, silage making and management of napier grass fodder. Knowledge was measured on ability to correctly answer a question on use aspect of DMTs from a set of 4-multiple choice answers. Farmers self-rated their skills in use aspects of DMTs on a 4-point Likert scale (1= least, 4= highly skilled). Hypothesis was tested that FFS and NFFS trained farmers were equally knowledgeable and skilled in the use of DMTs by fitting extension approach (FFS and NFFS) together with identified moderator variables as the independents and farmer’s knowledge and skills as the dependent variables. Differences between FFS and NFFS for the proportion of farmers knowledgeable about DMTs were tested using Chi-square (²) test while differences in skills was tested using non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test. Differences in realised dairy productivity levels were tested using t-test. All statistical tests were done at 5% level of significance using SPSS package. Compared to NFFS, the FFS trained farmers were more (p<0.05) knowledgeable and skilled on the use of DMTs and they achieved higher (p<0.05) milk yields and fewer (p<0.05) services per conception but body condition of their cows were not any better (p>0.05). These findings are valuable reference to extension agents, farmers, policy makers, extension delivery systems and researchers in the future design of effective dissemination approaches for DMTs targeting smallholders. It provides a basis for packaging of technologies for enhanced adoption by smallholder farmers.