Adoption of silage production practices by dairy farmers in western Maharashtra

The present study was conducted in the Pune, Ahmednagar Satara, and Sangli districts of Western Maharashtra for the assessment of the socio-economic profile, knowledge level, adoption of silage production practices, and constraints faced by dairy farmers. Most of the dairy farmers included in the study were in the middle age group, literate, had medium family size, had dairy farming as a secondary occupation, and fell into the medium milk production category. They were holding small land size and medium herd size. Similarly, most of them had medium experience, medium level of social participation, and extension contact. Almost all the socioeconomic variables studied were at a medium level. Most of the dairy farmers had a medium-level knowledge of silage production and its use. A medium level of adoption (69%) was observed, followed by a low level of adoption (21%) and a high level of adoption (10%) of silage production practices. Overall, the adoption index for all the silage production practices was found to be average (41.55). Land size, herd size, occupation, milk production, annual income, education, social participation, and knowledge level were found to be significantly associated with the adoption of silage production practices. Several constraints for dairy farmers hampered the adoption of silage production and utilization practices. The high cost of the harvester machine, unavailability of storage facilities, lack of knowledge regarding the exact proportion of ingredients used for silage, proper storage of silage, scarcity of fodder crops for silage making, lack of knowledge regarding silage production were the major constraints faced by dairy farmers towards the silage production. Awareness campaigns must be organized to increase the rate of adoption of silage production practices through subject-specific training and demonstrations.