Abstract

Dairy farming is important for income, food and nutritional security globally. The enterprise is traditional to cattle corridor in Uganda but of interest in non-traditional areas of the country such as the south western highland agro-ecological zone (SWHAEZ). The study examined dairy production, feeding and management practices and, assessed socio-economic factors that influence land resource allocation to dairy enterprise in the SWHAEZ. Mixed research methods were used for data collection including 60 key informants and 125 structured interviews to randomly selected dairy farmers. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize household demographics, dairy feeding, and management practices while multiple linear regression models was used to assess the effect of socio-economic factors on land resource allocation to dairy production. Results showed land allocation to dairy farming is significantly influenced by number of crossbreeds (P>0.01), number of exotic breeds (P>0.01), education level (P>0.05), and age (P>0.1) of respondent. Household income, food and nutritional security accounts for 43% while 32% draw manure and prestige from dairy farming, the rest are interested in both. The farmers practice semi-intensive and natural mating systems at 43% and 92% respectively. Average land (owned, hired & rented) allocated to dairy production is 10 acres. Increasing the number of cross and exotic breeds by one cow raises the size of land allocated to dairy farming by 63.8 and 47.7%. Cross and exotic breeds that are highland acclimatized should be introduced for improved land resource allocation and overall dairy production in the highland areas.

Key words: Dairy farming, land resource allocation, and highland areas of Uganda.