Abstract:
The smallholder dairy farmer’s performance and ability to improve productivity
for increased incomes, is driven by their level of innovativeness. Knowledge
on the nature, degree and frequency of innovations provide opportunities for supporting
the competitive advantages of smallholder dairy farmers to sustainably
break away from the poverty cycle. Little attention has been given to measuring
the performance and drivers of innovation for improvement of smallholder dairying
in Malawi. Without understanding innovation, it is difficult to make policies and
provide targeted, impactful support to smallholder farmers. This study is based on
a cross sectional survey of 193 smallholder farmers in Lilongwe and Blantyre milk
shed areas of Malawi. Innovation indices were computed to measure the innovation
performance and further analysed to determine the drivers and barriers of innovations.
Four categories of innovations namely; feeding, breeding, market, and animal
health innovations are presented. The innovation index for the smallholder farmers
was less than half (0.37) which is relatively lower in comparison to developed industries.
The key driver was access to credit along with training, access to information and networking. For efficient and sustainable management of innovations, clear policies should be put in place to ensure formal structures for supporting continuity of innovations through enhancements in social networking among the farmers and
cost effective mechanisms for accessing quality inputs.
Language:
Date of publication:
2017
Country:
Region Focus:
Southern Africa
University/affiliation:
Journal:
Volume:
3
Number:
1379292
Pagination:
1-11
Collection:
RUFORUM Journal Articles
Agris Subject Categories:
Additional keywords:
Licence conditions:
Open Access
Access restriction:
Project sponsor:
SHARE INTRA ACP – EU Academic mobility; RUFORUM
Form:
Web resource
ISSN:
E_ISSN:
Edition: