Frontiers in Science 2014, 4(1): 12-19 DOI: 10.5923/j.fs.20140401.03 Production Characteristics of Smallholder Dairy Farming in the Lake Victoria Agro-ecological Zone, Uganda Andrew M. Atuhaire 1,2,* , S. Mugerwa 1 , J. M. Kabirizi 1 , S. Okello 2 , F. Kabi 3 1 National Agricultural Research Institute (NARO), National Livestock Resources Research Institute (NaLIRRI), P. O. Box 96, Tororo, Uganda 2 Department of Livestock and Industrial Resources, College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Bio-security., Makerere University, P. O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda 3 Department of Agricultural Production, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences., Makerere University, P. O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda Abstract Smallholder dairy farming is increasingly becoming an important source of livelihoods for small scale dwellers in Lake Victoria agro-ecological Zone (LVZ) in Uganda. A study was carried out in Buikwe, Jinja and Mayuge Districts in LVZ of Uganda, with the objective of characterizing smallholder dairy farming. A total of 126 smallholder dairy farmers were interviewed using structured, semi-structured questionnaires and focus group discussions between September and November 2013. Data collected included; household demographics, challenges in smallholder dairy farming systems, available feed resources, labour distribution, milk production and marketing. The study revealed that households in Buikwe district had relatively larger herd size (4.29±0.864 head of cattle) compared to other districts. Natural pastures (p<0.05, df=4) were ranked as the main source of feed. Smallholder dairy farmers in Jinja ranked agro-industrial by-products as a major alternative feed resource supplemented to natural pastures while farmers in Buikwe and Mayuge utilized crop residues during periods of feed scarcity. Low farm gate price of milk that invariably fluctuated with season in all districts were the major (P<0.05, df = 4) challenges faced by the smallholder dairy farmers. Feed scarcity (p=0.001, df=4) was ranked as the major challenge. The study, therefore, provided basic information on production characteristics of smallholder dairy farming system from farmer’s point of view that could benchmark strategic research interventions to address declining smallholder dairy farmers’ productivity. Keywords Dairy cattle, Labour distribution, Smallholder, Uganda 1. Introduction Smallholder dairy farming system constitutes an important source of livelihoods to the majority of mixed crop-livestock farmers involved in agricultural production in Uganda [1]. While, smallholder dairy farmers make a shift towards market-oriented dairy production, they are faced with persistent challenges of low productivity, coupled with limited labour inputs. This practice has condemned smallholder dairy farmers to subsistence production, resulting to low income, low saving and low investment in the dairy sector, triggering vicious cycle of low inputs, low productivity, low technology applications and environmental degradation, which translate into abject poverty [2]. Uganda’s slow growth in the dairy sector is evidenced by declining production yields lower than the potential production estimated growth of about 70% [3] * Corresponding author: aatuhaire@gmail.com (Andrew M. Atuhaire) Published online at http://journal.sapub.org/fs Copyright © 2014 Scientific & Academic Publishing. All Rights Reserved considering that over 85% of dairy farmers are smallholders. The annual Gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of agriculture in year 2012/13 was 1.4% and unstable [4], yet population growth is estimated at 3.2 percent per annum and appears to be on the rise [5]. Therefore, it was important, to understand production characteristics of smallholder dairy farming so as to identify their opportunities and strength, and build on their threats and weakness to benchmark future research processes aimed at extracting famers out of abject poverty and extreme hunger. Dairy production has become increasingly intensive to cope with nutritional needs of increasing human population and declining per capita land holding [6]. This has led to intensification of smallholder dairy farming adopting stall-feeding (also known as “cut and carry”) where one to three heads of cattle are fed indoors instead of in-situ grazing [7]. Smallholder dairy farming has become an important source of milk and has created employment for many resource poor households in Uganda [1], partly due to Uganda's national development plan (NDP) policy whose objective is to eradicate poverty through agricultural transformation [3]. Smallholder dairy farming, usually 1 or