Adoption of improved wheat varieties by smallholder farmers in Bale Zone, Ethiopia

Abstract

Wheat is a strategic crop used for food security in Ethiopia. Cognizant of its importance, the Government of Ethiopia has been investing heavily in the development and dissemination of improved wheat varieties over the past 20 years. Despite such extensive intervention, farmers’ adoption of improved wheat varieties is low, suggesting the country has not fully tapped the benefits of investment made on wheat technology generation and dissemination efforts. This study used cross-sectional data collected from a sample of 394 farm households selected through multistage random sampling procedures following probability proportional to sample size technique. Both qualitative and quantitative data obtained from primary and secondary sources were used. Based on the nature of the data, binary probit model was used to identify factors affecting the farmers’ adoption decision of improved wheat varieties. The result of the study showed that from the total 394 sampled households, 45% (177) of them adopted the introduced improved wheat varieties. The probit model results showed that tropical livestock unit, frequency of advisory contacts, access to market information, farmers’ perception of improved wheat variety attributes, and membership in a cooperative significantly influenced farmers' decisions in adopting the improved wheat varieties. Therefore, policy and development interventions should focus on improving such an economic and institutional support system to achieve wider acceptance of improved wheat varieties by smallholder farmers in the study area.