Abstract:
Agriculture remains the leading sector for economic development in Ethiopia. Recently, there
has been a shift toward sustainable agricultural intensification practices and investigating
eco-efficiency at the farm level, which promotes economic development, environmental
improvements, and sustainable developments simultaneously. Within this framework, this
study was meant to investigate the adoption, eco-efficiency and impacts of sustainable
agricultural intensification practices (SAIPs) on farm productivity and commercialization of
smallholder vegetable producers in East Hararghe, Oromia region, Ethiopia. A multistage
sampling method was used to randomly select 383 sample households from three districts
and nine kebeles from East Hararghe zone. The study employed descriptive statistics and
econometric models viz. Multivariate probit, DEA, Tobit and Multinomial endogenous
switching regression. The result of multivariate probit model demonstrated that the adoption
of SAIPs is positively and significantly influenced by household size, social participation,
education, extension services and access to training; and negatively and significantly by age
and access to media. On the other hand, the result of the multivariate probit model regarding
the significance and sign of correlation coefficient of the selected SAIPs discovered that all of
the three pair cases were statistically significant. Of the three pair cases, only one case was
negative and the remaining two were positive indicating the existence of both complimentary
and substitutability relationships between SAIPs. The results of DEA model revealed that the
mean eco-efficiency score of the sample households was 0.75 with maximum and minimum
scores of 1 and 0.43 respectively. The result of the Tobit model pointed out that age,
education, training and adoption of SAIPs positively and significantly influence eco efficiency scores of the farm while farm size, farm income and leadership status negatively
and significantly influence eco-efficiency scores of the farm. The result of the multinomial
endogenous switching regression model revealed that adoption of SAIPs enhance farm
productivity and level of commercialization both solely and jointly except joint adoption of
conservation tillage and organic fertilizer. Hence, due emphasis should be given to promote
adoption of SAIPs, ensure access to extension service and introduce inclusive approach of
educating and training farmers so as to contribute for the improvement of both economic and
environmental performance simultaneously
