Constraints In Agricultural Production Research Articles

Assessing the Impact of Heatwaves on Wheat Crop Health in Ludhiana District Using Remote Sensing Technologies

Climate change is becoming one of the major constraints for agricultural production. Impact on the crop yield due to unseasonal rain, hailstorms, and sudden temperature rise is becoming more frequent. The study assesses the damage done by the heat wave in the Ludhiana district of Punjab in the year 2021-22. Satellite datasets have been used named Sentinel-2 and MODIS datasets. By using the Sentinel-2 Images crop discrimination was performed and wheat crop mask was generated for the year 2018-19 to 2021-22. A comparison of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was performed for the study period. MODIS dataset was used to calculate the Temperature Condition Index (TCI) and Temperature Stress Index, which reflects the effect of the heat wave that happened in March 2022. APY (Area, Production, Yield) and data on the procurement of wheat for the year 2021-22 and normal years were compared to visualize the impact of heat wave on the various market dynamics such as production, productivity, etc.

Insights into the Effects of Hydroxycinnamic Acid and Its Secondary Metabolites as Antioxidants for Oxidative Stress and Plant Growth under Environmental Stresses.

Plant immobility renders plants constantly susceptible to various abiotic and biotic stresses. Abiotic and biotic stresses are known to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS), which cause comparable cellular secondary reactions (osmotic or oxidative stress), leading to agricultural productivity constraints worldwide. To mitigate the challenges caused by these stresses, plants have evolved a variety of adaptive strategies. Phenolic acids form a key component of these strategies, as they are predominantly known to be secreted by plants in response to abiotic or biotic stresses. Phenolic acids can be divided into different subclasses based on their chemical structures, such as hydroxybenzoic acids and hydroxycinnamic acids. This review analyzes hydroxycinnamic acids and their derivatives as they increase under stressful conditions, so to withstand environmental stresses they regulate physiological processes through acting as signaling molecules that regulate gene expression and biochemical pathways. The mechanism of action used by hydroxycinnamic acid involves minimization of oxidative damage to maintain cellular homeostasis and protect vital cellular components from harm. The purpose of this review is to highlight the potential of hydroxycinnamic acid metabolites/derivatives as potential antioxidants. We review the uses of different secondary metabolites associated with hydroxycinnamic acid and their contributions to plant growth and development.

SUSTAINABILITY OF AGRICULTURE: AGRITECH PRACTICES

Agriculture is a fundamental sector for a global economic and social development. It provides food, fiber, and raw materials for industries and contributes to the livelihoods of millions of people worldwide. However, agricultural production faces several constraints such as climate change, limited resources, and population growth, among others. These challenges require sustainable solutions to ensure food security, maintain ecological balance, and improve livelihoods. Agricultural technologies provide innovative approaches to overcome these challenges, enhancing productivity, efficiency, and profitability. This paper provides a discussion that agricultural technologies could be a viable and sustainable solution for agricultural production constraints.

Ecological determinants and risk areas of Striga hermonthica infestation in western Kenya under changing climate

AbstractStriga hermonthica (Del.) Benth is a parasitic weed that is damaging major cereal crops in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA). Although Striga is recognised as an agricultural scourge, there is limited information available indicating the extent of its growth and spread as impacted by the changing climate in Kenya. This study investigated the impact of current climate conditions and projected future (2050) climate change on the infestation of Striga hermonthica in the western Kenya region. Specifically, the study aimed to predict Striga hermonthica habitat suitability in five counties in the western Kenya region through using the maximum entropy (MaxEnt) model and bioclimatic, soil, topographic and land use, and land cover (LULC) variables. Striga hermonthica geolocations were collected and collated and ecological niche models were developed to determine the habitat suitability. The results showed that approximately 1767 km2 (10% of the total study area) is currently highly suitable for Striga hermonthica occurrence. The future projections showed a range between 2106 km2 (19% of the total study area) and 2712 km2 (53% of the total study area) at the minimum carbon (RCP 2.6) and the maximum carbon emission scenarios (RCP 8.5) respectively. Elevation, annual precipitation, LULC, temperature seasonality and soil type were determined to be the most influential ecological predictor variables for Striga hermonthica establishment. The study revealed the importance of using climate, soil, topographic and LULC variables when evaluating agricultural production constraints such as Striga's prevalence. The methodology used in this study should be tested in other Striga affected areas.

Microcosm based bio-efficacy evaluation of biologically produced nano-Zn–Fe fertiliser

Chemical fertilisers are a significant component of agricultural inputs needed to achieve the highest possible yield and productivity. Fertilisers, on the other hand, change the nutrient balance and health of the soil. Furthermore, because of its low usage efficiency, this widespread use has a negative impact on ecosystems. In this study, nano-Zn–Fe fertiliser was synthesised in a microbial bioreactor and its key properties were determined, including actual particle size, elemental composition, zeta potential, and bioactive content. A microcosm plant bioassay system developed in-house was used to assess the bio-efficacy of biologically generated nano-Zn–Fe fertiliser. The fertiliser was applied to maize (at a rate of 1500 μg g−1 seeds) using a polymer-based seed coating technique and compared to commercial bulk and nano-fertilisers. The results indicate that nano-Zn–Fe fertiliser considerably improves seed germination, plant growth, and nutrient uptake in plants when compared to controls (polymer and feedstock material coated seeds) and commercial goods (bulk and nano-fertilisers). Additionally, we calculated the lead content of the plant system to verify that the produced material is non-toxic in accordance with global fertiliser permissible limit standards. As a result, nano-Zn-Fe fertilisers may be a more viable option for supplying an alternative source of zinc and iron fertilisers to balance global agricultural productivity constraints.

Indigenous Practices of Soil and Water Conservation for Sustainable Hill Agriculture and Improving Livelihood Security.

In the foothills of the North-West Himalayan region of India, agriculture is the main occupation of the residents. The soil and water resources are becoming the major constraints in agricultural production in the erosion-prone fragile ecosystem of the region. However, due to intensive rains and sloping lands of the region, erosion of the topsoil becoming the major problem for practicing sustainable agriculture in the region, which further dissects the lands, reduces the fertility potentials and land productivities of the region. The root cause of this huge erosion in the region is the intensive rains within a short interval of time on the bare sloping hillsides and handling this problem in both ways could reduce their erosion damage. Socio-economically the farmers are illiterate, poor, and hesitate to adopt innovative techniques of both land and water conservation. All this makes the challenge of reducing erosion losses quite difficult. Farmers in the region do have the skills to manage the problem of soil erosion which they learned from their forefathers and have faith in them. These technologies put together are termed as "Indigenous Technical Knowledge" (ITKs) and these ITKs have helped them a lot for sustainable agriculture in the region. Among different ITKs bunding of field, plowing before monsoon, filter strips, earthing-up in maize, mulching, compression of soil in sugarcane are the important ones for restoring the fertility of soils, reducing erosion losses, improving land productivity, and ultimately livelihoods in the region.

Non-attitudinal and non-knowledge based factors constrain households from translating good nutritional knowledge and attitude to achieve the WHO recommended minimum intake level for fruits and vegetables in a developing country setting: evidence from Gulu district, Uganda

BackgroundThe high level of incidence of mortality attributed to non-communicable diseases such as cancer, diabetes and hypertension being experienced in developing countries requires concerted effort on investment in strategies that can reduce the risks of development of such diseases. Fruits and vegetables (FV) contain natural bioactive compounds, and if consumed at or above 400 g per day (RDMIL) as recommended by World Health Organization (WHO) is believed to contribute to reduced risk of development of such diseases. The objective of this study was to determine in a developing country set-up, the extent to which rural and urban households conform to RDMIL, the status of nutritional attitude (NA) and knowledge (NK) associated with consumption of FV, and to delineate non-attitudinal and non-knowledge-based factors (NANK) that hinder achievement of RDMIL.MethodA cross-sectional survey of 400 randomly selected households and 16 focus group discussions (FGD) were conducted using Gulu district of Uganda as a microcosm for a developing country setting. Level of consumption of FV was assessed using 24-h dietary recall and compared to RDMIL as a fraction (%). The status of NK and NA were determined using sets of closed-ended questions anchored on a three-point Likert scale. Further quantitative statistical analyses were conducted using t-test, chi-square, Pearson’s correlation and multiple linear regression. FGD provided data on NANK factors and were analysed using qualitative content analysis procedure.ResultsUrban and rural inhabitants met up to 72.0 and 62.4% of the RMDIL, respectively, with absolute intake being higher among urban than rural households by 37.54 g. NK and NA were good but the intensity of NK was higher among urban respondents by 11%. RDMIL was positively correlated with NA while socio-demographic predictors of RDMIL varied with household location. FGD revealed that primary agricultural production constraints, market limitations, postharvest management limitations, health concerns, social discomfort and environmental policy restrictions were the major NANK factors that hindered achievement of the RDMIL.ConclusionsThese results indicate that NANK factors constrain households from translating good NA and NK to achieve the RMDIL.

Hybrid Economic-Environment-Ecology Land Planning Model under Uncertainty—A Case Study in Mekong Delta

The research on land natural resources as the leading factor in the Mekong Delta (MD) is insufficient. Facing the fragile and sensitive ecological environment of MD, how to allocate limited land resources to different land use types to obtain more economic benefits is a challenge that local land managers need to face. Three uncertainties in land use system, interval uncertainty, fuzzy uncertainty, and random uncertainty, are fully considered and an interval probabilistic fuzzy land use allocation (IPF-LUA) model is proposed and applied to multiple planning periods for MD. IPF-LUA considers not only the crucial socio-economic factors (food security, output of wood products, etc.) but also the ecological/environmental constraints in agricultural production (COD discharge, BOD5 discharge, antibiotic consumption, etc.). Therefore, it can effectively reflect the interaction among different aspects of MD land use system. The degree of environmental subordination is between 0.51 and 0.73, the net benefit of land system is between USD 23.31 × 109 and USD 24.24 × 109 in period 1, and USD 25.44 × 109 to 25.68 × 109 in period 2. The results show that the IPF-LUA model can help the decision-makers weigh the economic and ecological benefits under different objectives and work out an optimized land use allocation scheme.

Estimation and forecasting of soybean yield using artificial neural networks

AbstractIn science, estimation is the calculation of a current value, while forecasting (or prediction) is the calculation of a future value. Both estimation and forecasting are based on covariates. However, whereas estimation enables greater agility in current decision making, forecasting can reveal different strategies for the future. The use of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) has brought improvements in accuracy to the estimation and forecasting of agricultural yield for various crops around the world. These models are part of a set of machine‐learning models, becoming an important ally not only to producers, companies, cooperatives, and to government institutions for decisions making and strategic decisions at all levels of the agricultural system. The main constraints of agricultural production are climatic conditions and soil water availability during crop cycles. We propose the use of ANNs for soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] yield estimation and forecasting 2 mo before harvesting in the region of MATOPIBA, the largest and the last agricultural frontier of Brazil. This tropical agricultural area has about 73,173,485 hectares, corresponding to approximately 1.3 times the area of France. The input features for ANN were the monthly climatic conditions of air temperature, precipitation, and global radiation, as well as components of the water balance such as crop evapotranspiration, soil water storage, actual evapotranspiration, water deficiency, and surpluses during the cultivation cycle. The evaluation of ANN for yield estimation had R2 = .88 and RMSE = 167.85 kg ha–1, while the ANN for forecasting obtained R2 = .86 and RMSE = 185.85 kg ha–1.

Physico-chemical characterization of the soils of the watersheds of Boukombe in North-West Benin

This study addresses the specificities of soils in low-income countries. These infertile soils are characterized by low levels of agricultural productivity and the disappearance of long-term fallow, which is gradually giving way to shorter-term fallow and sedentary agriculture. The overall objective was to assess the physico-chemical characteristics of the soils of the Boukombe watersheds in the north-west of Atacora in Benin. Soil studies of 15 farm sites from which soils were sampled at the [0-20] cm horizon with 30 composite samples and statistical analyzes were performed. The results of particle size analysis showed predominance (68%) of a textural dimorphism with a sandy loam character and a relatively stable structure. The soils are generally acidic (pH ≤ 5), sodium in places and poor in Organic Matter (0.3%), particularly in the plateau. Mountain lands have soils richer in OM (4%), but poor in nitrogen with a content of between [0.02-0.14%], the C / N ratio at 3% lower than 12. The contents nutrients and minerals are accumulated at the bottom of slopes (2.23% carbon, 0.14% nitrogen) and at the top of slopes (14ppm of phosphorus) under Fonio. These soils remain in a fragile state, subjecting them to the process of intense erosion. The degradation, silting up and progressive acidification of soils constitute the main constraints of agricultural production, the solution of which is based on restoring their fertility by rehabilitating dikes and removing silt.

The Current Status and Constraints of Drought-Tolerant Maize Adoption in Uganda

Agriculture is an economic backbone of many sub-Saharan African countries, including Uganda. However, the country is grappling with slow agricultural development and food insecurity. Concurrently, Uganda faces climatic challenges that likely become further constraints for agricultural production. Maize is one of its major crops and serves as a food and cash crop for smallholders. However, its productivity remains low. To improve maize productivity under increasing temperatures and droughts, drought-tolerant maize (DTM) has been released, but it is not widely adopted. The objective of this study is, therefore, to review the current situation of DTM adoption in Uganda and identify characteristic differences between adopters and non-adopters and possible constraints for wider adoption. In doing so, available literature, policy documents and relevant reports on the subject were reviewed. The systemic approach was not feasible due to limited availability of reliable sources. Drought-tolerant maize adopters in Uganda appeared to be better endowed with production resources such as larger farmland, be more informed, educated and experienced, have a larger household, use more inputs more efficiently, earn higher income and harvest better yield. Major constraints to DTM adoption included lack of awareness, limited seed availability and accessibility, complementary input requirement, existing DTM attributes and dubious market quality of seed and fertilizer. These constraints and adoption characteristics seemed intertwined as a virtuous or vicious cycle for DTM adoption. Although a broad range of DTM adoption constraints is identified at a household, market and national level, DTM can be an effective means to improve maize productivity under climatic challenges in Uganda. To promote its adoption, the government should take more supportive measures and effective strategies for sustainable DTM uptake.

Integrated Health Interventions for Improved Livelihoods: A Case Study in Ethiopia

Smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) face multifaceted and co-existing risks, such as human and animal diseases and pests. Even though smallholder farmers often experience these challenges simultaneously, interventions to address these challenges are often implemented in a piecemeal fashion. However, managing agricultural production constraints without alleviating human and livestock health burdens might not generate significant and sustained benefits to achieve the desired development outcome (e.g., reducing hunger, malnutrition, and poverty). As such, building farmers’ resilience and adaptive capacity to co-existing production constraints and health burdens may require an integrated and holistic approach. Understanding the potential benefits of an integrated approach would provide critical information, for example, for revisiting the extension systems and for designing pro-poor holistically integrated interventions to tackle interrelated challenges facing smallholder farmers. In this paper, we examined the economic benefits of integrated human–plant–animal health interventions aimed at controlling malaria, stemborer infestations of crops, and trypanosomiasis, along with beekeeping as a livelihood diversification option in rural Ethiopia. We developed a whole-farm multiperiod mathematical linear programming model to examine the economic consequences of the interventions. Our results suggest that relaxing livelihoods and the human–plant–animal health constraints that farmers face has the potential to at least double income. The results further show that exploiting the potential synergies among interventions can generate higher economic benefits. The annual income from the combined interventions is 35% higher than the sum of the income gains from each intervention alone. Our results support an integrated approach to achieve holistic outcomes in areas where these development constraints co-exist.

Participatory Analysis of Crop Production Constraints and Opportunities in Dire Dawa Admnistratration Eastern Ethiopia

Participatory agricultural production constraint analysis was conducted in AGP-II project supported district; Biyo-Awale district from Dire Dawa Adminisrative Councile (DDAC) of Ethiopia with the objective to assess agricultural production constraints of the target community in the study area. The study was used Participatory Rural Appraisals (PRA) approach to collect and generate the required data and infortation. The study used PRA tools which included reviewing secondary data, focus group discussions, pair-wise ranking, and field observation. Results of PRA study revealed that the main crop production constraints facing the study area are shortage of improved crop varieties for cereal and horticultural crops, pest infestation (weeds, crop disease, and insects), moisture stress due to eratic rainfall distribution and inadequate moisture management practices. The PRA study also revealed that crop production was constraints facing are drought, deforestation, depletion of water resource and declining of soil fertility. The PRA study further indicates shortage of financial capital, and inadequate support in the income source diversification have been identified as major institutiona constraints that are limiting the capacity of the communities to diversify their livelihoods. Hence, there is need for research, development and institutional interventions to alleviate the identified constraints to crop production and socioeconomic in the study area through holistic approach.

Crop Production System and Their Constraints in East Shewa Zone, Oromia National Regional State, Ethiopia

Crop production is a complex combination of inputs which influenced by environmental, economical, institutional, political and social factors. Targeted extension for heterogeneous farming systems is a challenge in developing countries. Crop production characterization based on agro-ecology, production system and different farm components helps to identify area specific problems and give proper technological intervention to address the problems. Therefore, this study was initiated to characterize cropping system in East Shewa Zone with the objectives of identifying and characterizing the existing cropping systems, identify and prioritize constraints of crop production for identifying potential research interventions. Both Primary and secondary data collection method was used. Multi-stage sampling technique was employed to select sampled districts, PAs and household farmers. Primary data was collected by conducting Focus Group Discussion (FGD), key informant interview and household’s interview by using semi-structured questionnaires. A total of 184 sample households were interviewed. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the collected data using STATA version 14. The study finds out that East Shewa Zone practices rain feed and irrigation based cropping systems. Irrigation based crop production system that dominated by onion-tomato based production system and rain-fed based farming system which classified into maize-Teff based and haricot bean-chickpea based production systems. Major agricultural production constraints within the crop production systems of Zone are identified and the possible policy implications are suggested to solve the identified problems.

Keeping agriculture alive next to the city – The functions of the land tenure regime nearby Gothenburg, Sweden

Sustaining food production close to cities is not easy, as farming is often much less profitable compared to other activities in such locations, and it is at the frontier of resisting the pressures from urbanization and globalization. This study looks into an underexplored issue in peri-urban agriculture research – the role that land lease can play for preserving peri-urban agriculture. Leasing has increasingly become a common praxis in the Western industrialized world and it is a very necessary means for accessing limited farmland especially in peri-urban areas. Focusing on farms near Gothenburg, this study explores how the spatial structure of leasing brings opportunities as well as constraints to the change and continuation of farming in this peri-urban area. The investigation is guided by social, spatial and functional conceptualizations of land tenure, which 1) consider land tenure as a social relation, 2) are centered on functional constraints for agricultural production, and 3) highlight the spatial effects. Based on a combination of map interpretations, statistical analysis and interview analysis, the results show a strong and spatially structured pattern of production, farm and land use changes. Agriculture shows mainly to be driven by the landowner’s leasing strategies but is also shaped by the interplays between the landowner and the leasehold farmers. Existing food production farms have been able to rely on adding land from side lease for development even though the increase of small horse farms, holding whole-farm leases, makes it hard for new food production farms to start up. Policymakers are recommended to strategically use long-term leases as a policy instrument on municipal land at the peri-urban location, to incentivize food production farmers as well as to reduce land management costs.

Advances in Transcriptomics of Plants.

The current global population of 7.3 billion is estimated to reach 9.7 billion in the year 2050. Rapid population growth is driving up global food demand. Additionally, global climate change, environmental degradation, drought, emerging diseases, and salty soils are the current threats to global food security. In order to mitigate the adverse effects of these diverse agricultural productivity constraints and enhance crop yield and stress-tolerance in plants, we need to go beyond traditional and molecular plant breeding. The powerful new tools for genome editing, Transcription Activator-Like Effector Nucleases (TALENs) and Clustered Regulatory Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)/Cas systems (CRISPR-Cas9), have been hailed as a quantum leap forward in the development of stress-resistant plants. Plant breeding techniques, however, have several drawbacks. Hence, identification of transcriptional regulatory elements and deciphering mechanisms underlying transcriptional regulation are crucial to avoiding unintended consequences in modified crop plants, which could ultimately have negative impacts on human health. RNA splicing as an essential regulated post-transcriptional process, alternative polyadenylation as an RNA-processing mechanism, along with non-coding RNAs (microRNAs, small interfering RNAs and long non-coding RNAs) have been identified as major players in gene regulation. In this chapter, we highlight new findings on the essential roles of alternative splicing and alternative polyadenylation in plant development and response to biotic and abiotic stresses. We also discuss biogenesis and the functions of microRNAs (miRNAs) and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) in plants and recent advances in our knowledge of the roles of miRNAs and siRNAs in plant stress response. Graphical Abstract.

Land Changes Fostering Atlantic Forest Transition in Brazil: Evidence from the Paraíba Valley

The Atlantic Forest biome has only 13 percent of its pristine vegetation cover left. This article analyzes the consequences of land changes on forest cover in the Paraíba Valley, São Paulo state, Brazil, from 1985 to 2011. Multitemporal satellite image classifications were carried out to map eight land use and land cover classes. The forest cover increased from 2,696 km2 in 1985 to 4,704 km2 in 2011, mostly over areas of degraded pastures. The highest rates of afforestation were observed within protected areas around eucalyptus plantations. On the other hand, deforestation processes were concentrated on areas covered by secondary forests. Socioeconomic changes taking place in particular Brazilian settings, such as industrialization and agricultural modernization, allied to the Paraíba Valley's natural biophysical constraints for agricultural production, have led the region to experience a remarkable case of forest transition.

In search of a global model of cultivation: using remote sensing to examine the characteristics and constraints of agricultural production in the developing world

In most developing countries, people are heavily reliant on inexpensive, locally grown food. However, while dependence on cropping crosses national and continental boundaries, the selection of land for cropping has adapted to the available conditions. Recent analyses conducted by the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) show that the characteristics of cropped area differ in different countries, indicating that the critical variables influencing the selection of location for the establishment of agriculture also vary. This study looks at a selection of FEWS NET work using high resolution remotely sensed imagery to analyze cropped areas in Afghanistan, Eritrea, Guatemala, Haiti, Mali, Mozambique, South Sudan, Burkina-Faso and Tajikistan. This analysis identifies similarities and differences in the significant factors impacting cropped area in each country. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the application of high-resolution imagery to estimating cultivation is assessed. The results highlight the context-specific nature of cultivation and the effectiveness of very high-resolution satellite imagery for crop estimation. The results also suggest that a single, generally applicable model of cultivation will require complex interactions between economic, governmental and population characteristics in addition to local landscape/geophysical properties.

Optimising Cropping Techniques for Nutrient and Environmental Management in Organic Agriculture

<p>Depth and architecture of root systems play a prominent role in crop productivity under conditions of low water and nutrient availability. The subsoil contains high amounts of nutrients that may potentially serve for nutrient uptake by crops including finite resources such as phosphorus that have to be used in moderation to delay their exhaustion. Biopores are tubular shaped continuous soil pores formed by plant roots and earthworms. Taproot systems especially those of perennial legumes can make soil nutrients plant available from the solid phase and increase the density of vertical biopores in the subsoil thus making subsoil layers more accessible for succeeding crops. Density of larger sized biopores is further enhanced by increased abundance and activity of anecic earthworms resulting from soil rest and amount of provided feed. Nutrient rich drilospheres can provide a favorable environment for roots and nutrient uptake of subsequent crops. Future efficient nutrient management and crop rotation design in organic agriculture should entail these strategies of soil fertility building and biopore services in subsoil layers site specifically. Elements of these concepts are suggested to be used also in mainstream agriculture headlands, e.g. as ‘Ecological Focus Areas’, in order to improve soil structure as well as to establish a web of biodiversity while avoiding constraints for agricultural production.</p>

Interdependence in rainwater management technologies: an analysis of rainwater management adoption in the Blue Nile Basin

In the Blue Nile Basin of Ethiopian highlands, rainfall distribution is extremely uneven both spatially and temporally. Drought frequently results in crop failure, while high rainfall intensities result in low infiltration and high runoff causing soil erosion and land degradation. These combined factors contribute to low agricultural productivity and high levels of food insecurity. Poor land management practices coupled with lack of effective rainwater management strategies aggravate the situation. Over the past two decades, however, the Government of Ethiopia has attempted to address many of these issues through a large-scale implementation of a number of soil and water conservation measures. Despite the success of interventions, uptake and adoption remains low. The conceptual framework of this study is based on the premise that farmers are more likely to adopt a combination of rainwater management technologies as adaptation mechanism against climate variability and agricultural production constraints. This contrasts the previous work that typically examined a single technology without considering the interdependence between technologies. Data used in this study come from household survey in seven watersheds in the Ethiopian Blue Nile Basin. A multivariate probit model was used to account for the potential correlation and interdependence of various components of rainwater management technologies. Our results suggest that rainwater management technologies are related with each other; hence, any effort to promote the adoption of rainwater management technologies has to consider such interdependence of technologies, or failure to do so may mask the reality that farmers face a set of choices in their adoption decisions.