Determinants of adoption of upland rice varieties in Fogera district, South Gondar, Ethiopia

Abstract

The study was conducted in Fogera district, South Gondar zone, Amhara National Regional State (ANRS). Three Peasant Associations (PAs) among the fifteen PAs of upland growers of the district were selected purposively and a total of adopters and non-adopters of 120 selected households were interviewed to generate primary data. Descriptive statistics were used for analyzing quantitative data. Econometric model (binary logit) was employed to determine factors that influence the adoption behavior of farmers respectively. A sum of fifteen explanatory variables for the binary logit model were used, out of which nine variables were found to significantly affect the adoption of improved upland rice variety. These are: sex of the household head, agricultural organization membership, household heads' participation in field days related to improved upland rice, household head contact with extension agents, participation in social organizations, achievement motivation, attitude towards improved upland rice variety, distance to input and output market from residence of the household and active labor force of the household with 15 to 64 age group. Any effort in promoting improved upland rice variety, however, should consider the social, economic, institutional and psychological characteristics for better adoption of the technology. Therefore, attempts to promote transformation in agriculture through improved upland rice variety could be successful if these evaluation criteria and determinants are taken into consideration. Key words: Adoption, upland rice, binary logit model, New Rice for Africa (NERICA), Fogera district.