Adoption and Intensity of Row-Seeding (Case of Wolaita Zone)

In the context of Ethiopia, agriculture and specifically crop production take lion’s contribution, supporting the sector through introducing new agricultural technologies, like row planting in the recent times, boosts production. However, despite of such services, utilization of improved technologies remained low in Ethiopia. This study looks into the determinants of adoption and intensity of adoption of row planting using a survey data of 300 farming households in Wolaita zone. The survey indicates that about 87 percent of farmers adopt row planting in 2014/15 production year with mean intensity of use 2.33 Timad (about 56% of their total farm land). A dependent double hurdle analysis reveals that household being headed by Illiterate head, family size, Farm size, Annual off-farm income, Distance to nearest market and Training on row planting significantly influenced adoption and level of adoption of row planting. Moreover, adoption of row planting is significantly affected by Farming experience, No of information sources and Distance to Development Agent whereas level of adoption of row planting by livestock and Number of oxen. The study then concludes that the farmers’ adoption and level of adoption of row planting could be improved by raising farm household’s education, their off farm income, their endowment and by making them optimally mobilize their labor for agricultural activities and receive extension service. As a result, the study recommends local governments to work towards intensifying informal education to farming households in the study area, raising effort of investment to improve market access and enhancing agricultural extension services to farmers.