Utilization of draught animals for improving agricultural production in Arapai sub-county, Soroti district.

Abstract

This study was carried out to assess the utilization of draught animal for improving agriculture production in Arapai Sub County in Soroti district from February to May 2014 with the objective of identifying the adoption rate, impacts and challenges to animal traction utilization. A survey design was used during the study in which data was collected at a single point and time with a multi-stage random sampling procedure. A semi-structured questionnaire was used for collecting all relevant information related to animal traction. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and presented using tables, pie charts and bar graphs. Findings show that 99% of the respondents are aware of the use of work animals in agriculture where 1% of respondents are not aware and have never hear about animal traction technology and majority of the fanners (99%) used oxen for animal traction while 1% used donkeys. The information from the field shows that 83.3% of the respondents who own cattle use them 10 agriculture activities. The study revealed that most of the fanners (64.9%) used animal traction for ploughing or tillage only. The research findings indicate that 3.6%, of the farmers have increased production and yields. through the use of animal traction technology. About 31% of farmers have got more free time and money for involving in other economic activities. 16% of farmers have expanded the farms, where 8.5% of farmers find it simple to cultivate when using animal traction technology. Most of the respondents (58.5%) used animal traction because it is cheaper and affordable than the tractors, 17% said that they used them because they do not need skills compared to tractors and 24.5% used the technology because it was easier for them to get animals. Despite of all the benefits, the fanners also faced some challenges such as diseases and parasites, poverty high price of equipment, among others. This study prevailed that most of the respondents were aware of the use of animal traction and used mostly oxen especially for ploughing or tillage. However, there is need to introduce other types of implements like planters and weeders in the area other than only using oxen and plough.