Potentials and constraints of growing improved grass varieties: A case study of small-scale dairy farmers in Dankotuwa DS division

Abstract

Small-scale dairy farmers play a crucial role in contributing to the majority of milk production in Sri Lanka and are important in ensuring food security. However, the current milk demand in the country has made it unable to meet and rely on imports. One of the reasons for this is that providing poor nutrition to dairy cattle results in lower productivity. It has been widely adopted to use improved grass verities as a remedy for this problem. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify the potential and constraints of growing improved grass verities in the Dankotuwa DS division. Fifty small scale farmers were selected using proportionate random sampling from the 5 GN divisions in the Dankotuwa DS division. Data were collected using pre-tested questionnaires and analyzed using one sample Wilcoxon signed rank test and descriptive statistics. Results indicate that most of the small-scale dairy farms practice semi-intensive farming systems and use main grasses, Torpedo grasses, Mana grasses, Guinea grasses, and Cogon grass varieties as feeding sources. While most of the farmers are aware of these improved grass varieties, their adoption rate (16%) is very low. In fact, there are enough land resources available to the dairy farmers that they can utilize for the growth of improved grass varieties. Moreover, as per the farmers’ perception, findings revealed that ease of getting financial support, having water resources, ease of finding planting materials, having better knowledge about normal grass varieties, and ease of finding and buying fertilizers and pesticides mainly affect the potential of growing improved grass varieties (p < 0.05). Constraints such as problems with hiring labor, poor extension services, limited access to information about improved grass varieties, limited access to updates with new technologies, and high production costs significantly affected the growth of improved grass varieties (p < 0.05). The majority of the farmers are suggested to be aware of the benefits of improved grass varieties and need subsidies to grow improved grass varieties. This study concludes that there is potential for growing improved grass varieties among small-scale dairy farmers with proper extension service.