Factors Influencing the Adoption of Improved Sorghum Varieties in Awbere District of Somali Regional State, Ethiopia

E Mahdi,T Pichai,R Savitree

doi:10.4314/eajsci.v4i1.71523

Abstract

Sorghum is the most important cereal crop in the Awbere District, where the grain is used for human consumption and the stover for animal fodder. Sorghum is produced traditionally using oxen plow, seed broadcasting and threshing by animals. Package based extension program in the Somali Region was started in the year 1996 in Jijiga Zone, including Awbere District and since then, a number of improved sorghum varieties were disseminated to farmers. The purpose of this study was to identify factors that influence the adoption of improved sorghum varieties in Awbere District. Both primary and secondary data were used whereby the primary data were collected from 180 households in 2010. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression model were employed to analyze data. The findings of the study indicated that age and distance to input market were negatively and significantly related to improved sorghum varieties whereas farm size and type of house owned were found to have been positively and significantly related to improved sorghum varieties. The results of the study confirm that farmers who are better in economic status (having larger farm size and better quality house) and have access to market information can be greater technology adopters. Moreover, targeting younger farmers may enhance the adoption of new agricultural technology in the area.Keywords: Adoption; Improved Sorghum Varieties; Awbere District; Socio-Economic Factors; Institutional Factors

Highlights

The majority of the households (85%) in Ethiopia are smallholders who live in the rural areas and depend on agriculture as their major economic activity
The objective of this study is to identify factors affecting the adoption of improved sorghum varieties in Awbere District of the Somali Regional State
The existence of a literate in the household enhances the technology adoption, since the information delivered by members of the household to the household head is highly accepted than other sources of information, because of the trust that exists between them

Summary

Introduction

The majority of the households (85%) in Ethiopia are smallholders who live in the rural areas and depend on agriculture as their major economic activity. They are involved in crop and/or livestock production, where livestock provide drought power for crop production and crop residues are used as an animal feed (CSA, 1999). In the early 1990s to boost agricultural production a large extension program was started in Ethiopia with the introduction of modern agricultural technologies and agronomic practices. As part of the extension program, sorghum varieties were introduced into a sorghum growing areas of the Somali Regional State starting from 1992. The District is known as a principal producer of sorghum and maize

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