W/semait, Bekure (PhD)oyida, Tesfaye2018-10-092023-11-182018-10-092023-11-182002http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/12345678/12524This thesis was designed with the objective of identifying the socio-economic factors influencing the productivity of crossbred dairy cows in Chencha Woreda. Together with this, the challenges and opportunities of dairying, traditional animal management practices and the likes were also assessed. Crossbreeds were found to be concentrated at Chencha town and in peasant Keble administrations (PKAs) near the town. Of 110 households reported to have crossbred, it was feasible to include 100 households in the sampling frame. Already existing strata in the Woreda were used as strata in this study too, since one stratum vary from the other in such aspects as livelihood, experience in animal management and the likes. Using simple random sampling technique proportional to the population of the strata, 58 households were selected from the list of 100 households and covered in the survey and analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) for window 12. Although crossbreeds have been introduced to Chencha area before two decades, these years were not enough to achieve a minimum yield the govemment intended to attain (5 litters per cow per day) even in Chencha town where production is higher. The study revealed that market and human assets (physical as well as mental assets such as labor, experience in dairying and educational background) together with marketing access were found to constrain crossbreed dairy production in the area. In general, in this study both 'farm land size' and 'income status . .. ' of a household related to amount of milk yield inversely. A widely existing thought that farm land size and income status of the households constrained the crossbreed production in the area found to have no ground in this study. Population characteristics of households with crossbred have different structure than that of average for the district. Households with crossbred have more males and more working forces. The study has shown that crossbreed dairying has a potential to absorb labor force in excess of land in the area. To increase the contribution of crossbred dairy production to local economic development, existing milk cooperatives need to be strengthened and small milk cooperatives (milk groups) have to be created in the area where there is no cooperative. Training and on- farm assistance in the area of animal management, record keeping and organic farming strongly needed. For fruitful intervention a household with larger labor size, traditionally experienced in dairy production and whose head is literate and younger can be targeted during training and service provision. The service delivery efficiency and way also needed to be improved.enSocio-Economic Factors InfluencingThesis