Gender differences in the adoption of agricultural technology in North Shewa Zone, Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze gender differences in the adoption of agricultural technology in the North Shewa Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia. The data were collected in 2021 from 796 farm households and were analyzed using binary logit model. The results show that the adoption rate of agricultural technology in the zone by male-headed (87.3%) and female-headed households are significantly different, and adoption is lower for female-headed households (61.2%). The descriptive results reveal that female headed households had lower access to education, land size, and for that reason technology adoption. Moreover, the results show that the decision to adopt agricultural technology is significantly influenced by the gender of the household, the level of education of the householder, the marital status of the householder, participation in saving, membership of an agricultural cooperative, distance from the market and access to extension visits, access to certain credit, total arable land and livestock asset. Therefore, the results suggest that policies and programs that aim at developing and disseminating agricultural technology in the Zone should vigorously support economically less endowed but more gender-egalitarian, especially female-headed ones.