Adoption of Crop Technologies among Smallholder Farmers in Ethiopia: Implications for Research and Development

This paper, based on review and synthesis of adoption studies, presents the level of use of improved crop technologies as well as varietal adoption decision behavior of smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. Almost all of the crop technology adoption studies focused on improved seeds and chemical fertilizers while very few considered adoption of interrelated sustainable agricultural practices (SAPS). Information on impact of crop technology adoption on household well being,however, is scarce in Ethiopia. Agricultural technology use assessment studies in the 1980s and early 1990s were few in number and focused on documenting the efforts and lessons learned from the Comprehensive Integrated Rural Development Projects and the Minimum Package Programs. Technology adoption studies proliferated then after but most of the studies were highly location specific, depended on recall household surveys and employed small samples and hence limiting the usefulness of the studies for deriving policy recommendations. Studies conducted since 2010, however, involved many crops, utilized several complementary data collection methods including sample household surveys, community focus group discussions, expert panel judgments and DNA finger printing of seed samples collected from agricultural sample survey of the Central Statistical Agency (CSA). Furthermore, the synthesis besides providing adoption rates, illuminated many of the factors responsible for the observed low rate of adoption. The review has also brought into light methodological and empirical research gaps, if addressed, contribute to enhanced technology generation, promotion and adoption by smallholder farmers.