A double hurdle statistical analysis of 250 farms in the Tigray region of Ethiopia reveals different causal factors for soil conservation adoption versus intensity of use. Farmers' reasons for adopting soil conservation measures vary sharply between stone terraces and soil bunds. Long-term investments in stone terraces were associated with secure land tenure, labour availability, proximity to the farmstead and learning opportunities via the existence of local food-for-work (FFW) projects. By contrast, short-term investments in soil bunds were strongly linked to insecure land tenure and the absence of local food-for-work projects. Public conservation campaigns on private plots reduced adoption of both stone terraces and soil bunds.Whereas capacity factors largely influenced the adoption decision, expected returns carried more influence for the intensity of stone terrace adoption (measured as metres of terrace per hectare). More stone terracing was built where fertile but erodible silty soils in higher rainfall areas offered valuable yield benefits. Intensity of terracing was also greater in remote villages where limited off-farm employment opportunities reduced construction costs.These results highlight the importance of the right kind of public interventions. Direct public involvement in constructing soil conservation structures on private lands appears to undermine incentives for private conservation investments. When done on public lands, however, public conservation activities may encourage private soil conservation by example. Secure land tenure rights clearly reinforce private incentives to make long-term investments in soil conservation.
This article examines the role of institutional services of credit, input supply, and extension in the overall commercial transformation process of smallholder agriculture in Ethiopia. Survey data collected in 2006 from 309 sample households in three districts of Ethiopia are used for the analyses. Tobit regression models are used to measure the effect of access to services on the intensity of inputs use for fertilizer and agrochemicals. A probit model is used to measure these effects on the adoption of improved seeds. Intensity of use of seeds is analyzed using an ordinary least squares model. Logarithmic Cobb-Douglass functions are estimated to analyze the effect of access to services on crop productivity. Heckman's two-stage estimation is used to examine determinants of household market participation and the extents of participation. Results show that access to institutional support services plays a significant role in enhancing smallholder productivity and market orientation. Our results imply that expanding and strengthening the institutional services is critical for the intensification and market orientation of smallholder agriculture in Ethiopia. In particular, appropriate incentives and regulatory systems are urgently needed to encourage the involvement of the private sector in the provision of agricultural services. Copyright (c) 2009 International Association of Agricultural Economists.
In less favoured areas such as the highlands of Ethiopia, farmers manage risk through land allocation to crops and varieties since they cannot depend on market mechanisms to cope. They also grow traditional varieties that are genetically diverse and have potential social value. Supporting the maintenance of crop and variety diversity in such locations can address both the current needs of farmers and future needs of society, though it entails numerous policy challenges. We estimate a model of crop and variety choice in a theoretical framework of the farm household model to compare the determinants of crop and variety diversity, revealing some of these policy considerations. Farm physical features and household characteristics such as wealth and labour stocks have large and significant effects on both the diversity among and within cereal crops, varying among crops. Policies designed to encourage variety diversity in one cereal crop may have opposing effects in another crop. Trade-offs between development-related factors and diversity in this resource-poor system are not evident, however. Market-related variables and population density have ambiguous effects. Education positively influences cereal crop diversity. Growing modern varieties of maize or wheat does not detract from the richness or evenness of these cereals on household farms. 0 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V. ( S . Benin), j.pender@cgiar.org (J. Pender).' Tel.: +I 202 862 5645; fax: +I 703 426 0416.In the less-favoured areas of the world where crop production is risky and opportunities are limited for insuring against risk through working off-farm, many farm families still depend directly on the diversity of 0169-5150/$see front matter 0 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.