DETERMINANTS OF AGRICULTURAL MODERN TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION BY SMALLHOLDER FARMERS: THE CASE OF GIMBO DISTRICT, KEFFA ZONE, SOUTHWESTERN REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

This study was aimed at Determinants of Agricultural Modern Technology Adoption by Smallholder Farmers in Gimbo District, Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples' Region, Ethiopia. The principal objective of this study was to analyze the type of modern agriculture and identify the institutional and socio-economic determinants of the adoption of modern agricultural technology among smallholder farming households’. The study employed a crosssectional survey research design and a mixed research approaches used to collect and analyse data generated from a household survey, and key informant interviews. A total of 335 smallholders farming household heads from the ddistrict were selected by stratified sampling method from three kebele of the district. . A purposive sampling technique was used to select agricultural extension workers for key informant interviews Descriptive statistics and multiple linear regressions were used for analyzing quantitative data. The study revealed that the majority of the sampled smallholders farming households were non-adopters but a small percentage of households adopt modern agricultural technology. Eventually, multiple linear regressions were employed to examine the determinants factors affecting modern agricultural technology adoption of the study area. Thus, R (94.5%) used to show the relationship of variables in the case of correlation which found between the range of 0.9_1.00. As the result the dependent and independent variables have very strong relationships. Also Adjusted R2 (.981) indicated that the dependent variable (determinants of agricultural modern technology adoption by smallholder farmers) could be influenced about 89.1% by independent variables (agricultural inputs, extension services, credit, market and socioeconomic determinants).The major findings of the study indicate that farm size, age of household head, educational level, agricultural inputs access, access to agricultural extension, and credit service are the main determining factors of household adoption of modern agricultural technology. This suggests that the government and other stakeholders gave more attention to the provision of better extension services, agricultural inputs, farm size, educational status as well as making a favourable environment on credit access for the farmers easier