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Abstract
Adoption of agricultural production technologies in developing countries is influenced by a wide
range of economic and social factors as well as physical and technical aspects of farming and the
risk attitude of farmers. It is important to understand the role of these factors to ensure the
development of appropriate technologies and the design of successful development projects. This
study examines the impact of such factors on the adoption of single-ox, fertilizer and pesticide
technologies as part of a post-drought recovery project in Tegulet-Bulga district in Ethiopia.
Models to evaluate the probability of adoption are specified for the respective technologies and
are estimated using a logit maximum likelihood procedure. results indicate that the most significant
variable affecting the probability of adoption of all three technologies is farm size; the impact
is negative for single-ox technology and positive for fertilizer and pesticide use. Economic factors
such as income, wealth and debt generally exhibit statistically significant influence on the adoption
of single-ox and pesticide technologies as do family size, access to outside information, education
and experience.
The effect of socio-economic factors on adoption of fertilizer and pesticide technologies is greater
in the area which has more access to outside information and off-farm activities (Ankober) than
in more 'self-contained' area (Seladengay). The impact of the degree of risk aversion of farmers
is found to be significant and negative for single-ox technology in both areas, and for fertilizer and
pesticide technologies in only one area. The predicted probabilities of technology adoption by an
average farmer are found to increase dramatically with the level of education and access or exposure
to outside information.