• Adoption and Diffusion of Grass Silage in Trabzon Province of Turkey

    İsmet BOZ*, Çağatay YILDIRIM, Hatice TÜRKTEN

    Abstract: Developments in agricultural sector largely depend on the application of advanced agricultural technologies. These technologies sometimes consist of very complex issues but sometimes include very simple practices. Use of these technologies especially in disadvantaged regions enables farmers to increase their income and welfare level, as well as, makes contributions to a reduction of developmental gaps among regions. Depending in the area where they are being used, the new technologies have one of the effects of decreasing production costs, increasing productivity, easing the work being done, and reducing labor requirement. Grass silage for small holder cattle owners is considered as one of these technologies for Trabzon Province of Turkey since it has not been commonly used in the region.
    The main objectives of this research were to determine socioeconomic characteristics and communication behavior of small holder cattle owners, to determine what practices are being applied by the farmers in the present farming system, to determine problems encountered by farmers, and to determine the awareness level of grass silage in the region and possible contributions that grass silage will make to the farmers in the region. It is aimed also to develop recommendations for the region to accelerate the adoption and diffusion process of this technology. Descriptive statistics were used for data analyses. Research findings showed that small holder cattle farmers are mostly older people and operate in conventional ways. They face serious problems with drying their grass and lack information about grass silage. In order to adopt grass silage, farmers must be aware of its benefits, and extension work is needed for this purpose.

    Keywords: grass silage, diffusion of innovations, adoption of innovations, Trabzon, Turkey.

    Pages: 1 – 13 | Full PDF Paper