Artificial Insemination in Cattle: Efficiency, Opportunities and Challenges in Selected Districts of West Wallaga Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia.

Artificial insemination (AI) 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 genetic improvement. The study was conducted from December 2022 to November 2023 to determine the efficiency, opportunities and challenges of AI in the West Wallaga Zone in Oromia, Ethiopia. The zone is located 441 km away from Addis Ababa. It is located at 9°10'N-9°17'N latitude and 35°44'E-36°09'E longitude. 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 were used to select the study area districts, kebeles and households based on the number of livestock population, the potential of AI implementation, accessibility and households who have one or more artificially inseminated dairy cows. Methods of data collection are questionnaire surveys, field monitoring, focal group discussions and retrospective data from the record book of each kebele and district office of agriculture from 2019 to 2023, which 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 kebele were surveyed 46. The collected data were statistically analysed using the Statistics Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) (version 25). The efficiency/conception and calving rate in 2019-2023 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, there should be an extension on AI, the AI technicians should be trained to improve their skills and increase the efficiency of AI, and the owners of dairy cows should be trained on heat detection.