Adoption of improved wheat technologies in Adaba and Dodola Woredas of the Bale highlands, Ethiopia

Abstract

This study assessed farmers' current wheat management practices, determined the technical and socioeconomic factors affecting the adoption of wheat technologies, and drew implications for research, extension, and policy. Adopters of improved varieties were younger, more educated, had larger families and farms, hired more labor, and owned more livestock. Farmers identified the following traits as important in wheat varieties: high yield, resistance to sprouting and lodging, seed color and size, and baking quality. The main constraint to adopting improved wheat varieties was the high price of seed. Both adopters and nonadopters preferred the wheat variety Pavon-76, suggesting that Pavon-76 has important traits that farmers appreciate and that should be considered in national and regional wheat breeding programs. In particular, farmers' perceptions of the disease and lodging resistance of improved wheats positively influenced their adoption. However, the perceived bread baking quality of the varieties negatively influenced adoption of improved wheats. This trait should be given higher priority by wheat breeding programs. The tobit analysis revealed that access to credit is an important factor in a farmer's decision to adopt improved wheat technologies (variety and fertilizer). Credit in kind not only relaxes the cash constraint currently existing in most farm communities, but also facilitates input availability for farmers. Hired labor is another determinant of a farmer's ability to adopt higher nitrogen fertilizer rates. This finding highlights the importance of developing labor-saving wheat production technologies to offset the cost of hired labor and expand the adoption of nitrogen fertilizer.