Adoption determinants of wheat production technology packages by smallholder farmers in Horo Guduru Wollega zone, Ethiopia

Abstract Agricultural technology adoption intensely improve agricultural production and it is a promising source for smallholder farmers’ means of achieving sustained well-being in Ethiopia. However, adoption of multiple wheat production technologies is not well practiced and its overall adoption level is low in the country. Hence, this study is aimed at identifying factors associated with farmers’ adoption of wheat production technology packages in the Horo Guduru Wollega zone, Ethiopia. The analysis of the study was based on a survey data collected from a randomly selected 373 sample households and a two-limit Tobit model was used to assess determinants of wheat production technology packages of farm households. The adoption index result of the descriptive model revealed that the adoption intensity of wheat producers’ technology package is 57.52%, while the highest adoption was in the highland agro-ecology (59.96%), followed by the midland agro-ecology (58.77%), and the lowest was in the lowland agro-ecology (50.21%). Results show that education level of household head, access to credit, access and purchase of improved seed, livestock owned, farmer’s perception wheat yield, farm training received, and annual farm income are positively and significantly associated with the adoption intensity of wheat technology packages while distance from nearest market had negative and significant effect. The results of the study forward that agricultural policymakers, development organizations, and qualified agricultural practitioners should engage in the improvement of wheat production technology adoption rate of which need upgrading farmers’ literacy level, strengthening farm-oriented institutions for improving accessibility of agricultural inputs, financial services, training and advisory services for farmers on the application of technology adoption in combinations. Minimizing input market barriers, subsidizing farmers through credit provision, enhancing farmers’ skills and valuable insight about the wheat technology packages could improve their adoption rate of wheat production technology packages.