Diffusion of an Evaporative Cooler Innovation Among Smallholder Dairy Farmers of Western Uganda

Abstract

In many sub-Saharan countries’ dairy industries, the evening milk is either wasted or processed into low-value products because it is highly perishable and cannot be kept fresh until the next morning, when it is safe to travel (no access to electricity and night travel is unsafe). To save this milk, a “bottom of the economic pyramid” solution in a low capacity (15.5 L), evaporative cooler has been developed and its performance has been assessed while initiating its diffusion among smallholder dairy farmers of Western Uganda. The cooler successfully preserved the milk over 24 h period with acceptable quality in terms of the Resazurin test scale. Although the rate of the cooler innovation diffusion was found consistent with other diffusion studies in rural settings, interviews of participants suggested that a larger capacity cooler (50–100 L) and on-farm regeneration with biogas will accelerate the diffusion rate, affirming that at the micro-level, societal shaping of technology is indispensable to successful diffusion