Abstract:
Silkworm production in Ethiopia is basically started recently in Oromia and Southern
regional states. The production status of silk (cocoon) in these areas was 3.36 tons with
annual average income of 360000 ETB. From the total of 396 farmers 190 and 206 adopters
and non-adopters were selected purposively and simple random sampling technique and
interviewed to generate data for the study. 64 focus group and 17 key informant discussions
were held to generate qualitative data. A binary logit model for the factors influencing
adoption of silk and silkworm production was employed and among the total 7 explanatory, 5
variables were found significant to affect the adoption. These include; sex, age, total land
size, total livestock, active family labor force, frequency of contact with DAs and participation
on training. But educational status and access to credit were non-significant to sericulture
adoption. The major silkworm production challenges were lack of feed source, primitive and
unscientific “reeling and weaving” technique, lack of knowledge and skills among the
farmers and extensionist, lack of host plant and silkworm seeds, lack of market information,
the presence of disease and adverse condition. Despite all the challenges, there are enormous
prospects to boost production and quality of silkworm production in the two regions
(environmental conduciveness and human capital growth). Enhancing silkworm feeds through
introducing improved mulberry and castor plant, establishing seed center and creating
proper market are recommended.
