Abstract

Adoption and wider diffusion of improved teff varieties is playing vital role in reversing the present situation of food insecurity in many parts of Ethiopia. However, the uses of improved teff varieties are constrained by various factors. Hence, in this study, an attempt was made to examine factors affecting adoption and intensity of use of improved teff varieties. A multi-stage random sampling technique was employed to select 150 sample households from Kobo district. Double-hurdle model was used to identify factors influencing households’ adoption decision and intensity of use of improved teff varieties. The result of double-hurdle model shows that educational level of household head, participation on crop production demonstration, distance from the nearest market, frequency of extension contact, off/non-farm income, proportion of cultivated land allocated for teff, livestock holding, improved teff seed availability, and perception on better yielding capacity of the new varieties over local varieties were found to be significantly influencing households adoption decision, whereas, sex, age, family labor, membership to an organization, off/non-farm income, frequency of extension contact and land allocated for teff were found to be significantly influencing the intensity of use of improved teff varieties. Therefore, the result implies that strengthening the existing extension services, providing good transport facilities for farmers through infrastructural development, improving access to improved seeds, improving farmers’ level of education, strengthening farmer’s organization, encouraging the use of labour saving technologies, improving crop-livestock production system and provision of demonstrations of new technologies are areas that need policy attentions to enhance adoption and intensity of use of improved teff varieties. Further, high yielding teff varieties need to be given special priority in teff variety scaling out programs.

Highlights

  • Ethiopia is fundamentally an agrarian country and agriculture is Ethiopia’s most important sector, crucial for the country’s food security and the livelihoods of its people

  • Double-hurdle model was chosen over Tobit model and used to analyze the influence of various demographic, socio-economic and institutional variables on adoption and intensity of use of improved teff varieties

  • Each 1% increase in proportion of cultivated land allocated for teff production would result in 23.4% increase in the intensity of use of the improved teff varieties

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Summary

Introduction

Ethiopia is fundamentally an agrarian country and agriculture is Ethiopia’s most important sector, crucial for the country’s food security and the livelihoods of its people. Despite the dominance of traditional smallholder farmers in the sector, increased engagement with mid and large-scale private sector partners has brought new technologies and improved market linkages [2]. The majority of the agriculture sector is made up International Journal of Agricultural Economics 2020; 5(4): 114-122 of smallholder farmers who live on less than 1.17 hectares of land (38). This is true to the major food crops grown in the country

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