The adoption of technical and organizational innovations and their impacts on dairy sheep breeding in Tunisia

Abstract

In Tunisia, the size of the dairy Sicilo-Sarde sheep population has decreased by 90%. Its productivity has stagnated at around 70 liters/ewe/lactation over the last decade. The entire milk yield is used for cheese manufacture. The objective of this work was to identify the innovations that have been adopted and their impacts on flock performance. Two types of innovation are concerned: technical innovations (food supplementation, early weaning and crossing with a Sardinian breed) and organizational innovations (membership of breeders’ associations). The method used was based on an exhaustive survey. Two milk production levels were selected for analysis ‘class 1’ with a production level >70 liters/ewe/lactation and ‘class 2’: production level ≤70 liters/ewe/lactation. The results showed that, whatever the milk production level, the rates of adoption of innovations such as food supplementation and early weaning are still limited, but were higher in ‘ class 1’ than in ‘ class 2’. The same was true for organizational innovation which appeared to slightly improve the herds’ performance. The farmers’ membership of the breeders’ association led to an increase in the sale price of milk and reduced the monopoly imposed on the sector. Overall, the innovation implementation rate did not exceed 52% in ‘class 1’ and was only 36% in ‘class 2’. These results highlight the great potential for improving the productivity of the Sicilo-Sarde breed especially in ‘class 1’ where the animal production system, herd management and the farms’ socio-economic characteristics are better.