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Abstract
Despite the fact that erosion undermines productivity in the Ethiopian highlands,
adoption of fertility enhancing techniques remained very minimal. The objectives of
this study is to examine factors affecting adoption of fertilize and manure use and their
interrelationships using plot and household level data collected from 211 farm households.
A two-stage probit model results revealed a negative reciprocal relationship
between fertilizer use and manure applications, basically because of the difference in
additional resource requirements for application of the two inputs. Whereas prices of
chemical fertilizers are very high in the study area, manure is labor-intensive in its
application. This implies that the ability to afford high fertilizer prices decreases the
probability to apply manure; and endowment with adequate labor input decreases the
probability to opt for fertilizer. The study also identified different impediments to
adoption of fertilizer use and manure applications and important implications drawn
from the results are discussed.