Smallholder dairy farmers’ knowledge, attitude and practices on aflatoxin contamination in feeds and milk: The case of Addis Ababa and Hawassa milk-sheds in Ethiopia

Following an alarming high aflatoxin contamination levels reported for animal feeds and milk in the greater Addis Ababa milk-shed of Ethiopia, livestock professionals, the regulatory bodies and public/consumers were alerted about the problem. However, whether farmers were also on the same level of concern was the main research question for this study. Therefore, this study was initiated to understand smallholder farmers’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding the causes, effects, and mitigation strategies of aflatoxins. The study applied a standard knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) measurement tool on market oriented smallholder dairy farmers from two milk sheds in Ethiopia. A total of 180 dairy producer households from the Addis Ababa milk shed (Sululta, Bishoftu and Adama) and Hawassa milk shed (Arsi-Negelle, DoreBafana and Kofele), Ethiopia, were interviewed using a pre-tested structured questionnaire. The results indicated that the average dairy cattle herd size in the study areas were 9.23 (±0.45). Sale of milk and dairy products is the major source of occupation/income to the large majority (78.3%), which shows that the selected dairy farmers were market oriented. Additionally, the majority of farmers (79.16%) owned higher cross dairy cattle (with >62.5% exotic blood/ inheritance) while others have lower crosses (with <62.5% exotic blood/inheritance) and local cattle breed with 13.18% and 8.67%, respectively (p < 0.05). Overall, about 50% of the households have not received any training related to feed and milk safety/quality management as well as on how to handle and store it. From the total farmers, only 9.44% farmers know about the term aflatoxins, from this 90% do not know the causes/sources of aflatoxin and 96.6% do not know if it has any effect/impact on human/animal health. Most farmers (61.1 %) consume milk in its raw form. The study area is characterized by improved and market oriented dairy systems; however, farmers were less sensitized on the safety and quality requirements, notably related to aflatoxin contamination in feeds and milk. Although aflatoxin contamination has been a major concern in the dairy sector, particularly after the recent report on the Addis Ababa milk shed, the majorities of farmers remain unaware of its root causes and effects. Quite large proportion of farmers (93.3%) perceived that animal feeds are spoiled when molds are visibly observed and hence discard such feeds; it is highly probable that the non-observably contaminated feeds might go to dairy animals. Awareness creation campaigns and training programs on how to combat aflatoxins on farms needs to be developed before any other interventions.