Abstract:

The study was done in Burunga Sub- County to establish impact of fluctuations in raw milk prices and to identify constraints to marketing of raw milk. Seventy-seven farmers were sampled from stratified farms according to herd size. The small herds had 1-50 heads of cattle, the medium herds had 50-100 heads of cattle, and the large herds had over 100 heads of cattle. The majority of cattle owners (47.4%) (n=77) were illiterate, while only 5.3% had studied above ordinary level. The land acreage per unit head of cattle was 1.6, 2.7 and 6.5 acres for the small, medium and large herd size strata respectively. The majority of farmers from the large herd stratum took dairy farming as a way of life; whereas the majority in the medium herd size herd stratum said it was profitable. There was overwhelming gender imbalance in livestock ownership. Ninety-point seven percent (n=77) were males as compared to 11.3%. The majority of farmers in the large herd stratum (68.4%), kept local long-horned Ankole cattle, whereas the majority of farmers in the small and medium herd strata (62.5% and 90.5%) kept crosses respectively. All farmers raised their herds on natural pastures, none of the farmers gave supplements to their calves, used manure nor borrowed a bank loan. The mean AFC, CI and LL were 27.9, 16.7 and 10.7 respectively. Farmers were using local, cross bred or exotic bulls for breeding. No farmer used AL Farmers in the small and medium herd size strata used cross breeds as sires mainly, whereas those with large herds used local Ankole bulls as sires. Eighty-eight percent (n=68) were watering their cattle from dams and 12% from river Katonga. Water scarcity during drought and high costs of bush clearing were the major constraint to them cattle enterprise. Only 32.5% of the overall farmers were members of dairy cooperative; majority of whom were from the small size stratum. None of the farmers added preservatives to raw milk to extend its shelf life. Milk vendor especially pick-up milk traders attributed the payment of low price for raw milk to long distance, seasonal roads and poor quality of milk. For 50.2% of the respondents, the income from raw milk sales could not sustain farm activities, whereas 27.6% had to sell live cattle to manage farm expenditures. Eighty eight percent (n=66) made ghee when there was no buyer for milk, whereas 11.6% retained it for home consumption. Dairy plant managers set lower and upper price limits when prices fell and rose respectively. Disease control costs were in form of tick control using acaricides, antibiotics, anti-trypanocides and dewormers. There was marked rise of prices of milk during dry season averaging Ug. Shs. 340±16.2. and lowest during rainy season averaging Ug. Shs. 150 ±12.2. The average price for raw milk was Ug. Shs. 266±12 for the whole year sales.