Adoption of Agricultural Technologies of the Barley-Based Farming System in Ethiopia

Background: Improving the well-being of small holder farmers through the promotion of improved technologies has gained increased attention in recent times. Despite the high production potential and the crop's economic importance, adoption and diffusion of barley technologies are constrained by various factors. The purpose of the study is to identify determinants of adoption of agricultural technologies in the barley-based farming system of Ethiopia, with the specific objectives of identifying factors affecting Agricultural technology package choice and assessing the inter-dependency between the technologies.

Methods: The study was carried out in highland areas of Ethiopia. The study used data from the Ethiopian socio-economic survey of 693 sample households. The descriptive and econometric analytical tools were applied. The research employed the Multivariate probit model to estimate the factors that influenced the adoption of agricultural technologies choice for barley production.

Results: The descriptive result of the study identified that variables, like education, family size, credit access, farm size, farm income, and farmer's age play significant roles across barley technologies. The results showed that about 66.96%, 58.59%, 75.18%, 65.17%, and 75.99% of sample house hold adopted an improved variety of barley, by using urea, DAP, chemical, manure, and crop rotation, respectively. Multivariate probit model results showed that the age of the house hold head, soil fertility, farm size, training, and transportation cost affect the adoption of barley technologies negatively and significantly. Sex of the household head, education level of the house hold head, farm income, tropical livestock unit, and access to credit affect the adoption of barley technologies positively and significantly.

Conclusion: Small holder farmers were more likely to succeed than fail in jointly adopting barley technologies. Consequently, government policy and other concerned parties should emphasize on the improvement of the institutional support system and decrease gender disparities in access to such institutions.