Abstract:
This study aims at assessing the factors influencing the production risks due to hail or heavy
rainfall and crop production choices of farmers in Jimma Rare District. The data was
generated from primary source and 196 households were randomly selected from four
kebeles. Both descriptive statistics and econometric model were applied in this study to
analyze the data collected from the selected sample households. A Negative binomial
regression model was applied to analyze factors influencing production risks due to hail or
heavy rainfall faced by households and Multinomial logistic regression model was used to
analyze the major factors influencing the crop production choices of households. The result of
Negative binomial regression model shows that, age of household heads and total land size
have positively and significantly influenced the number of production risks due to hail or
heavy rainfall faced by households, but negatively affected by livestock size, access to
extension service, and access to training. The result of Multinomial logit model revealed that,
age of household heads, education level of household heads, availability of agricultural input,
access to agricultural infrastructure, and agro-ecological zone have positively and
significantly influenced farmers’ choices of crop types while negatively influenced by the total
land size. Therefore, the study recommends that, improving access to training, availability of
agricultural inputs at planting time, and preparing experience sharing among farmers should
be promoted to decrease number of production risks due to hail or heavy rainfall and
increase the productivity of farmers by appropriate choice of crop production in the study
area
