A study was conducted to analyze factors influencing adoption of wheat technology packages by smallholder farmers in Gurawa, Meta and Habro districts in eastern Ethiopia. The analysis was based on a household survey data collected from 136 randomly selected households. A Two-limit Tobit model was used to elucidate factors affecting adoption of technology packages measured based on an index derived from five components of wheat technologies which included row planting, pesticide application, use of improved varieties, and application of inorganic fertilizers, namely, Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) and Urea. Among the variables included in the model, variation in district, gender, age of the household head, education status of the household head, farm size, distance to market, distance to FTC (Farmers' Training Centers), cooperative membership, dependency ratio, and annual income of the households were found to significantly affect the adoption of wheat technology packages. Policy makers, planners and development practitioners should give due attention to these determinants to support smallholder farmers in wheat production and enhance gains derived from it.

The problem addressed in this paper is the challenge of moving from formulating policy goals to achieving the promised results. The purpose is to assess the possible role of innovation in agriculture as a way of contributing towards achieving the Malabo Declaration commitments and the zero hunger Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2) in six African countries. Since the SDGs are high on both international and many national agendas, there is a need to increase our knowledge of how to move beyond formulating goals. The approach includes both quantitative and qualitative data from a multisite research and development project. Moving from promises in relation to policy goals such as SDG2 and the Malabo Declaration to actions that make a difference at local level is a challenging task, and COVID-19 has added negatively to that challenge. Technological and institutional innovations exist that have the potential to improve the agricultural productivity, food security, and income levels of smallholder men and women farmers. However, innovation processes are hindered by barriers related to governmental, economic, knowledge-based, socio-cultural, and resource-based factors. To overcome these barriers, governance needs to go further than defining goals, and proceed to the next step of establishing effective implementation mechanisms that ensure the promised result.

A cross sectional investigation was conducted on the major causes of kids' mortality in Adami Tulu Jiddo Kombolcha district from May 2009 to June 2010 to determine the mortality rate and to identify the potential causes of kids' mortality in Arsi-Bale kids. A combination of multistage and purposive sampling techniques was used to select the study areas while simple random sampling was adopted to select experimental goats. The result revealed that from a total of 536 kids born over 12 months period about 22.4% (n=120) kids were died. Internal parasite assessment was conducted to see the infection level of parasites infection both on adult and kids of Arsi-Bale goats. Accordingly fecal sample was directly collected from the rectum of the experimental animal and its result showed that from a total of 39 adults and 158 kids fecal sample collected 59.6% ( n=118) was positive and 40.4% (n=80) was negative. The types of internal parasites mostly observed on goats of the study sites were identified as Strongly (90.5%), Monesia (23.3%), Coccidian (8.6%), Fasciola (1.7%) and Ascaris (0.9%). From the positive fecal samples, 51.5% (n=61) is highly infected, 19.5. %( n=23) moderately infected and 28.8 % (n= 34) had low infestation. Diarrhea, diseases and/or internal parasites were responsible for death of kids. Therefore, systematic control of internal parasites and diseases and periodic vaccination of goats against the identified diseases should be in place to improve productivity of goats for economic return.

The purpose of this study was to assess women’s decision-making power in small-scale agriculture in six African countries in view of the feminization of agriculture and to discuss the meaning of decision-making in relation to women’s empowerment and sustainability. The data are drawn from a multisite and mixed-method agricultural research and development project in six sub-Saharan countries including two sites in each country. The five domains of empowerment outlined in the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index are used to structure the analysis. The results indicate that in the selected sites in Malawi, Rwanda and South Africa, women farmers tend to dominate agricultural decision-making, while the result is more mixed in the Kenyan sites, and decision-making tends to be dominated by men in the sites in Tanzania and Ethiopia. Despite women participating in agricultural decision-making, the qualitative results show that women small-scale farmers were not perceived to be empowered in any of the country sites. It appears that the feminization of agriculture leads to women playing a more important role in decision-making but also to more responsibilities and heavier workloads without necessarily resulting in improvements in well-being outcomes that would enhance sustainability.

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