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Determinants of smallholder farmers’ decisions on fertilizer use for cereal crops in the Ethiopian highlands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 October 2020

Tewodros Tefera ,
Eyasu Elias Open the ORCID record for Eyasu Elias [Opens in a new window]  and
Christy van Beek Open the ORCID record for Christy van Beek [Opens in a new window]
Tewodros Tefera*
Affiliation:
School of Environment, Gender and Development Studies, Hawassa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Eyasu Elias
Affiliation:
Centre for Environmental Sciences, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Christy van Beek
Affiliation:
Wageniningen Environmental Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands Present address: AgroCares, Wageningen, The Netherlands
*
*Corresponding author. Email: dagted@gmail.com
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Abstract

This study identified decision variables influencing fertilizer adoption and optimal fertilizer rates among smallholder farmers in the Ethiopian highlands. The fertilizer adoption and fertilizer use were examined in four regional states using a questionnaire survey, which was administered to 2880 farm households. A double hurdle model was used to analyze factors influencing the two independent decisions of adoption of fertilizers and use of fertilizers. The model estimates of the first hurdle revealed that the probability of fertilizer adoption increased by 1.2% as household education status improved, by 1.4% for an increased number of active family members, by 5.6% with improved access to credit, by 3.4% with cooperative membership, by 3.3% with an increase in farm size, by 4.6% when soil and water conservation practices are employed, and by 3.4% when agroecology of the farm is located in the medium to highland zone. Conversely, the probability of fertilizer adoption reduced by 0.9% for an increase in family size, 0.6% with 1 km distance from all-weather road, 1.6% for a kilometer further to farm plots, and 0.9% for an increase in number of parcels. The intensity of use of fertilizers was influenced by education status of the household head, family size, access to credit, membership to cooperatives, use of crop rotation, annual income, number of farm plots owned, use of soil and water conservation, and agroecology. Therefore, a concerted effort is needed to encourage fertilizer adoption and optimum fertilizer use intensity by improving households’ resource endowment, institutional capacity to deliver services, and infrastructure development.

Keywords

AdoptionFertilizer useDouble hurdle model
Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Agriculture , Volume 56 , Issue 5 , October 2020 , pp. 677 - 687
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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