Rate of Adoption and Diffusion of Dairy Innovations by the Dairy Farmers in Andhrapradesh

Rate of adoption in the present study refers to the acceptance and application by a respondent, some or all the innovations recommended in the package of selected dairy innovations. Rate of diffusion is operationalized as the time taken by the dairy farmer to implement the innovation recommended, to the time form which the farmer is aware of the innovation. A total of 360 dairy farmers, who were first to adopt innovations suggested by the State Animal Husbandry Department from three districts of Andhra Pradesh i.e., Visakhapatnam, Krishna and Chittoor districts were selected purposively for the study. A total of nine dairy innovations were suggested for adoption to the dairy farmers in the study area. Based on adoption quotient computed, the farmers were categorized into low, medium and high adopters and item analysis on adoption of dairy innovations was carried out. Item analysis identified that, out of the nine practices recommended, only five practices i.e., package of practices for rearing heifers, pregnant and lactating animals; feeding of area specific mineral mixture, strategies for enhancement of milk yield and quality, marketing strategies to improve milk sales, use of ICT’s in adoption of innovations were adopted by majority of dairy farmers while remaining four practices i.e., cultivation and feeding of Azolla, hydroponic fodder, use of milking machine and formulation and feeding of complete feed blocks had shown almost low to nil adoption by sizeable section of the respondents. The reasons for adoption of the above mentioned five practices is due to dominant role played by them in influencing production levels, minimum input costs and high economic returns where as the remaining four practices involved high input costs, sound operational skills, low economic returns and non-applicability in all situations which might have been the reasons for their adoption to a meager extent.