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Abstract
Conservation tillage (CT) is one of the practices promoted to enhance sustainable agricultural
production and the adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers. It is a new farming practice for
smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. Lack of information on the existence and use of the technology, as
well as its profitability, could deter its adoption. This paper examines the role of social learning in
the adoption of CT in rural northwest Ethiopia. We used a spatial econometric model on crosssectional
plot-level survey data to achieve this objective. The results show that neighbour effect is a
significant determinant of CT adoption in the study area. This suggests that the adoption of CT is
occurring through neighbourhood effects, and that considering progressive farmers when designing
technology-promotion programmes can speed up the adoption process.