Abstract:
Women play a very significant role in dairy farming activities through their active participation in Ethiopia by contributing between 40-60 percent of labor to dairy farm production. Thus, this study was conducted to identify the challenges and opportunities of rural women’s participation in small-scale dairy farm in Wolmera district. Despite this, women’s in Ethiopia including wolmera district there are challenged to participate in dairy farms. The constraints that hamper to participate of rural women in small-scale dairy farms in wolmera district are the main reason for conducting this study. Therefore, this study is conducted to investigate the factors affecting women’s participation in small-scale dairy farms in wolmera district. To address the objectives of the study, quantitative and qualitative methodologies were used in this study. Data were collected from primary and secondary sources, the primary data necessary for the quantitative study were collected through questionnaire from 142 women farmers drawn from three kebeles, and qualitative data were collected through key informant interviews and focus group discussions. Descriptive and econometrics analysis were made to answer the specific objectives of the study. The results from the descriptive analysis indicated that of the participation of most women in the study area is relatively low. On the other hand, the binary logistic regression model was run to identify factors affecting the participation of rural women in small-scale dairy farm practices. The results revealed that the age of the household head, education of the household head, land holding, and annual income of the household were strongly and positively related to the level of women participation; while the household head’s sex being female, had a negative influence on women participation.
