Choices of Varieties and Demand for Improved Rice Seed in Fogera District of Ethiopia

In this study, 151 households were randomly drawn from three randomly selected Kebele in probability proportional to size method. The demographic and socio-economic factors that determine the participation in improved varieties were household labor availability, education level of the household head, land holdings, distance to the nearest village market, proximity to the main market, and distance to access agricultural extension and access to the source of rice seeds. However, determinants of choice decision varied from cultivar to cultivar. The evidence of the study from the interdependence among the decision of adoption of improved rice varieties suggested that technology adoption will be accelerated by launching a progressively developing package and scheme of rice technology generation, and points to the importance of mobilising additional resources to augment households’ efforts at popularization and promotion of improved rice cultivars. The findings from Linearized Almost Ideal Demand Systems (LA/AIDS) model showed that compelling evidence for small proportion changes in own prices and cross price of improved rice varieties led to greater than unitary proportionate changes in their purchases. The results generally showed that farmers were very sensitive to changes in improved rice seed prices and incomes. The major implication of the findings was that any intervention to improve farmers’ seed purchases should take into account efforts to increase farmers’ purchasing power of agricultural inputs like improved seeds and fertilizers. Keywords: improved rice, choice, seed demand, multivariate probit, Linearized Almost Ideal Demand System