The Dairy Farming Future from Farmers' Perspectives in The Northern Region of Iraq

The main purpose of this study was to analyze dairy farmers' feelings of safety about the future of dairy farming in the northern region of Iraq and to investigate how environmental factors and demographic characteristics of dairy farms impact their sense of security. Primary data were collected from 280 dairy farmers in four provinces of northern Iraq: Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Dohuk, and Halabja. Descriptive statistics, the Chi-square test, and binary logistic regression were employed for analysis. The results of binary logistic regression analysis indicated that age, gender, marital status, education, experience, and household size significantly influenced farmers’ perceptions of whether dairy farming could secure their future. Moreover, the binary logistic analysis revealed that five elements of dairy farming – technology, dairy farm structure, government policy, marketing, and extension – were significantly associated with farmers' perceptions of future security through dairy farming. However, the study concludes that to promote agricultural development at the macro level, it is essential to prioritize the provision of support services to farmers in policy formulation so that farmers can effectively leverage these services to enhance farm production and income levels.