Adoption of Agricultural Innovations: Investigating Current Status and Barriers to Adoption of Heat Stress Management in Small Ruminants in Jordan

Heat stress (HS) is a major constraint to small ruminants' productivity in tropical, subtropical, arid and semiarid areas of the world including Jordan. Therefore, this study aimed at assessing the current status and barriers of HS management and proposing solutions to adopt HS management by questioning farmers about their social aspects, farm demographics, HS knowledge and practices and farmers' resources of HS management. Results indicated that there was an adequate representation of responses based on age, experience and education level of farmers and herd size. Half of the respondents have never heard about HS or not sure what HS is? Almost 32% of the farmers reported that animals exposing to HS cause deaths. Signs of HS observed on animals, the most HS management methods used and the major barriers to use HS management by farmers were herein well presented. In conclusion, the findings of this study may provide guidance to animal husbandry farmers, administrators and researchers for managing HS in Jordan.