Impacts of Adopting Improved Wheat Varieties on Food Security in Girar Jarso Woreda, North Shewa Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia

Abstract

Agriculture is expected to play an important role in ensuring food security. Ethiopia is attempting to increase agricultural production and productivity that combat food insecurity. The purpose of the study was to assess the impact of adopting improved wheat varieties on food security in Girar Jarso Woreda, Oromia Region, Ethiopia. Three kebeles were selected randomly from Girar Jarso. A sample of 192 households, 90 adopters, and 102 non-adopters, were selected. Primary and secondary sources were used to obtain both qualitative and quantitative data. A logit model was used to identify factors influencing the adoption of improved variety. Household Food Balance Model (HFBM) was utilized to calculate net available food at the household level. A Propensity Score Matching (PSM) technique is also employed to quantify the impact of improved wheat varieties on households' food security. The findings demonstrated that education level, involvement in training, demonstration, and field day events, distance to market, and farmer cooperative membership all had a substantial influence on the adoption of improved wheat varieties. The findings also demonstrate that adopting improved wheat varieties increases household food availability. Adopting improved wheat varieties has the potential to increase food availability at the household level, which is a good indicator of food security. Governments and non-governmental organizations should pay close attention to the adoption of improved varieties to reduce the problem of food insecurity in the study area. Keywords: Impact, improved variety, grain crop, Household Food Security DOI: 10.7176/JAAS/78-01 Publication date: March 31 st 2022