Abstract
Soil and water conservation (SWC) practices have been promoted in the highlands of Ethiopia during the last four decades. However, the level of adoption of SWC practices varies greatly. This paper examines the drivers of different stages of adoption of SWC technologies in the north-western highlands of Ethiopia. This study is based on a detailed farm survey among 298 households in three watersheds. Simple descriptive statistics were applied to analyze the stages of adoption. An ordered probit model was used to analyze the drivers of different stages of adoption of SWC. This model is used to analyze more than two outcomes of an ordinal dependent variable. The results indicate that sampled households are found in different phases of adoption, i.e., dis-adoption/non-adoption (18.5 %), initial adoption (30.5 %), actual adoption (20.1 %), and final adoption (30.9 %). The results of the ordered probit model show that some socio-economic and institutional factors affect the adoption phases of SWC differently. Farm labor, parcel size, ownership of tools, training in SWC, presence of SWC program, social capital (e.g., cooperation with adjacent farm owners), labor sharing scheme, and perception of erosion problem have a significant positive influence on actual and final adoption phases of SWC. In addition, the final adoption phase of SWC is positively associated with tenure security, cultivated land sizes, parcel slope, and perception on SWC profitability. Policy makers should take into consideration factors affecting (continued) adoption of SWC such as profitability, tenure security, social capital, technical support, and resource endowments (e.g., tools and labor) when designing and implementing SWC policies and programs.
Highlights
ObjectiveThe Ethiopian economy is heavily dependent on agriculture which is dominated by subsistence smallholder farmers that are partially integrated into markets
The adoption process of Soil and water conservation (SWC) measures is categorized into four major phases, i.e., non-adoption/dis-adoption, initial adoption, actual adoption, and final adoption
These findings indicate that adoption studies should focus on the classic comparison between adopter and nonadopter categories, but rather investigate the adoption process of SWC measures at different phases of adoption
Summary
Background and Research ObjectiveThe Ethiopian economy is heavily dependent on agriculture which is dominated by subsistence smallholder farmers that are partially integrated into markets. The fate of the agricultural sector directly affects economic development, food security, and poverty alleviation. The role of this sector in alleviating poverty and food insecurity is undermined by land degradation such as soil erosion and nutrient depletion (Bekele and Drake 2003; Taddese 2001; Tekle 1999). Over the last four decades, the government of Ethiopia and a consortium of donors have been promoting soil and water conservation (SWC) technologies for improving agricultural productivity, household food security, and rural livelihoods, while simultaneously mitigating environmental degradation. Farmers have disadopted (abandoned) earlier adopted technologies (Shiferaw and Holden 1998; Tadesse and Kassa 2004; BoARD 2010). Farmers modify or adapt the technology to their own real situations, among others by reducing the area occupied by SWC line interventions (e.g., soil bunds or stone bunds along the contour lines to reduce soil erosion)
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