DETERMINANTS OF THE FARMERS' ADOPTION OF INORGANIC FERTILIZER IN KAFA ZONE: THE CASE OF ADIYO WOREDA, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Increasing technology adoption among smallholder farmers has a big potential to uplift the living standards of the poor through increasing production and productivity patterns. The objective of this study was to identify major determinant factors of farmers’ adoption of inorganic fertilizers in the southwestern Ethiopian people region, in the case of Adiyo Woreda of Kafa Zone. A structured questionnaire was used to collect cross-sectional data in 2021/22 production year from 389 respondents drawn from six rural kebeles in Adiyo woreda using a multistage sampling procedure. The study used both descriptive and binomial logit econometric methods to analyze the data collected from sampled households. The descriptive analysis result indicates that out of 389 households 279 (71.72%) were adopters and 110 (28.28%) were non-adopters. Furthermore, out of 389 farmer respondents, 5.14% were laggards, 31.11% were a late majority, 39.07% were the early majority,21.59% were early adopters and 3.08% were innovators. The adoption level of the farmers is very lower (21.83 percent) compared to their average annual land size cultivated in 2021/22 croping year. The logit regression results of the study show that the adoption decision of inorganic fertilizer application is driven by factors such as land size, extension service, attitude of farmers, using traditional/biological ways, farmers perception of the price effect of inorganic fertilizers, income of the household, participation in off-farm, saving habit of the household and debt load. The policies that expand the accessibility of credit services, disseminate productive agricultural technology information, and create the opportunity for education for farm household has the potential to increase the probability of inorganic fertilizer adoption decision and strengthen the level of adoption among smallholder farmers