Abstract:
This research investigated factors influencing dairy farmers’ choice of milk marketing channel
in Kirihura district, South -Western Uganda. It is an attempt to establish factors which
influence dairy farmers’ choice of the milk marketing channel in the district. A structured
questionnaire was used to collect data from dairy farmers. The questionnaire contained
questions that brought out answers to milk prices, farm size, volume of milk produced, number
of milking animals, marketing channels, and household demographic characteristics. Also,
focus group discussions were used to capture on activities in the milk chain. Research findings
indicate that, there was a significant difference in channel participation where informal
marketing channel had more participants (73.3 percent) and formal marketing channel
participants were fewer. The Heckman Probit Model was used to identify the factors which
influence dairy farmers’ choice of milk marketing channel. The results from the model show
that age of dairy farmer (P≤0.05), membership in cooperative (P≤0.01), form of payment
(P≤0.0.1), volume of milk produced (P<0.05), level of education of the dairy farmer (P≤0.1),
and marketing costs (P≤0.01) greatly influenced the choice of milk marketing channel. It is
recommended to provide education to the dairy farmers on the importance of selling milk to
the formal channel; DDA should assure farmers of market for t/le milk especially during the
rainy season when milk volumes are huge. Ensure accessibility to dairy farn1S by the means
of roads construction and maintenance. Establishment of area cooperatives is highly
recommended. It is from these associations where farmers learn new ways of farming.
