STUDY ON ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION EFFICIENCY, OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES IN THREE SELECTED DISTRICTS OF WEST WALLAGA ZONE, OROMIA REGION, ETHIOPIA

ADVISOR: ABRAHAM KEBEDE (DVM, MVSc, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR) ABSTRACT Artificial insemination is a technique in which semen is artificially collected from a selected male animal, processed, stored and artificially introduced into the selected female reproductive tract for the purpose of genetic improvement. The study was conducted from March 2023 to August 2023 with the aim of determining the ef iciency, opportunities and challenges of artificial insemination in West Wallaga Zone in Oromia, Ethiopia. The zone is found at 441 km away from Finfinnee. Its located 9°10°-9°17° North latitude and 35°44°-36°09° East longitudes. The three selected districts were Gimbi, Nadjo and Ayira and six representative kebeles from each district (Lalisa Yesus, Chuta Gochi), (Eba waqayo, Humna waqayo) and (Wayu kolli, Jarso Abayani) respectively. Purposive sampling methods was used to select the study area districts, Kebeles, and households are based on number of livestock population, potential of artificial insemination implementation, accessibility, and households who have one or more artificially inseminated dairy cows. Methods of data collections are questionnaire survey, field monitoring, focal group discussions, and retrospective data from the record book of each Kebele and district of ice of agricultural during 2019 to 2023 were used for the study. Both primary and secondary sources of information were used to obtain the data. In the three representative districts, the total target population (N=900) of households’ owners of artificially inseminated cows was determined using the Yamane formula (n= 277). The sample size of the households of owners of artificially inseminated cows for each of the three selected districts was 92 and the households of owners of artificially inseminated cows for each kebeles were surveyed 46. The collected data were statistically analyzed using SPSS (version 25). The ef iciency/conception and calving rate in 2019 to 2023 from the total 2565 inseminated cows were 1285(50%) and 1254(97%) respectively. The overall average level of education was 53.8% (elementary school). The top opportunities and challenges were farmer interest and heat detection, respectively. Therefore, the government should prepare a sustainable extension that addresses the problem of artificial insemination, train the artificial insemination technicians to improve their skills and increase the ef iciency of artificial insemination, and the owners of dairy cows should be trained on heat detection. Keywords: artificial insemination, challenges, ef iciency, opportunities, west wallaga