Determinants of Adoption and Intensity of Adoption of Improved Maize Varieties in Babile and Fedis Districts of East Hararghe Zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

Increasing agricultural productivity and improving the sustainable livelihoods of rural farmers are among the government of Ethiopia policy priorities. In this effort, adoption of improved agricultural technologies is expected to play a vital role. However, the uses of improved maize varieties are constrained by various factors. Hence, in this study, an attempt was made to examine determinants of adoption and intensity of adoption of improved maize varieties. A multi-stage random sampling technique was employed to select 218 sample households from both Babile and Fedis Districts using cross-sectional data. Double-hurdle econometric model was used to identify determinants of households’ adoption decision and intensity of adoption of improved maize varieties. The model results showed that age of household head, level of education of household head, farm experience in maize production, total farm size owned, access to extension services, improved maize seed availability, the distance nearest market and districts dummy were significantly determined the adoption of improved maize varieties in the first hurdle model (probit). In the second hurdle (truncated), sex of household head, age of household head, family size, farm experience, total farm size owned, districts dummy were found to significantly determined intensity of adoption of improved maize varieties. Therefore, the results of this study suggested that strengthening the extension services, improvements in improved seed delivery systems to large scaling up, improving market access and arranging the way to create job opportunities for rural youth unemployment to participate in seed production business are important. Keywords:Adoption, intensity of adoption, improved maize varieties, Hurdle Econometric Model, East Hararghe DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/12-23-05 Publication date: December 31st 202