Credit access and agricultural technology adoption nexus in Ethiopia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Access to credit is a good way to overcome some of the financial obstacles associated with technology adoption by the farmers. In Ethiopia the potential effect of credit on technology adoption is controversial. To determine the overall direction of effect a meta-analysis was done using a total 42 studies. The random effect model and meta regression analysis were applied to unveil the potential effect of credit access on farmers' technology adoption in Ethiopia. The result showed that in Ethiopia farmers adopted agricultural technologies such as chemical fertilizer, high yielding varieties, livestock technologies, soil and water conservation practices, beehive technologies, poultry technologies and ICT technologies. The random effect model output showed that access to credit increases agricultural technology adoption of farmers by 1.23unit, as compared to farmers who have no access to credit. The result from the meta regression output also depicted that family size; total livestock holding and total income were the main factors that determine heterogeneity in the effect of credit access on farmers' technology adoption among farmers. It was concluded that credit is essential to improve technology adoption; however, most farmers in Ethiopia have collateral problems to have access to credit for the adoption of technologies. It was recommended that a lot of improvement is needed from the government and private financial institutions to widen credit provision for the rural communities without collateral which could boost the financial power of the farmers so as to purchase technologies from the market. • In Ethiopia farmers adopted agricultural technologies such as chemical fertilizer, high yielding varieties, livestock technologies, soil and water conservation practices, beehive technologies, poultry technologies and ICTs technologies. • access to agricultural credit is a good way to overcome some of the financial obstacles associated with technology adoption. • The random effect model output showed that access to credit increases agricultural technology adoption of farmers by 1.23unit, as compared to farmers who have no access to credit. • The result from the Meta analysis depicted that family size; total livestock holding and total income were the main factors that determine credit access effect on the farmers' technology adoption.