Effect of Agricultural Extension Program on Smallholders’ Farm Productivity: Evidence from Three Peasant Associations in the Highlands of Ethiopia

Abstract

This study evaluates the effect of agricultural extension program participation on farm productivity taking three case study kebeles (peasant associations) in Ethiopia. A total of 1112 plot-level data collected from 300 selected farm households, comprising of extension participants and non-participants, were used in the study. The study begins the estimation with simple Ordinary Least Square (OLS) method. To deal with the potential bias due to the existence of observed and unobserved characteristics, we employed Heckman Treatment Effect Model (HTEM) and Propensity Score Matching (PSM). The OLS result shows that extension participation increases farm productivity by about 6%. However, both HTEM and PSM clearly reveal the presence of selection bias in extension program participation which leads to underestimation of the OLS estimates. The participation could have increased farm productivity by up to 20% had it not been to the serious selection bias related to non-farming factors such as involvement in kebele administration, and wealth status of the participants observed during program placement. Our PSM analysis also verifies the positive effect of extension program participation on farm productivity. In conclusion, the extension program has a positive effect on farm productivity in the study area. However, its effect with its current structure and input could have tripled had there been no bias related to extension program participation. This result provides a valuable policy insight in which improving access to diversified and quality agricultural inputs are critically necessary for the participants on top of expanding the program to less resourceful farmers by avoiding any entry barriers in the future.

Does Gender Division of Labour Matters for the Differences in Access to Agricultural Extension Services? A Case Study in North West Ethiopia

“…More importantly, one of the characteristics of Ethiopian agriculture is its labour intensive nature which depends mainly on human labour and draft power. Previous studies observed that households who have large number of family size in adult equivalent scale have high likelihood of participation in the extension program (Elias et al, 2013;Botlhoko & Oladele, 2013).…”

“…As shown in Table 1 only 18 percent of female heads are literate. According to Elias et al (2013);Gebreegziabher et al (2011);Giovanopoulou et al (2011), education increases the probability of joining the extension program with the notion that farmers with better human capital like education are among the early adopters.…”

“…In contrast to the national policy and Ethiopian government advocacy that strongly promote gender equality in all aspects of life, the top-down approach, the perception that "females are not farmers" and the focus on getting model farmers to adopt fixed-technology packages (World Bank, 2010) and serious selection bias during placement of program participants (Elias et al, 2013), the agricultural extension program tends to neglect poor farmers in general and female farmers in particular (Ogato et al, 2009;Umeta, 2013). Although gender training and mainstreaming take place in some areas, women focused extension approaches are limited, and gender considerations are missing at all levels (Buchy & Basaznew, 2005).…”

Impact of Improved Wheat Varieties Adoption on Productivity: Disparity Among the Major Administrative Regions of Ethiopia

“…Accordingly, most of the lands available for settlement are found in the lowlands that lack basic infrastructural facilities and pose serious health hazards. With little suitable land available for expansion of crop cultivation, especially in the highlands, future cereal production growth will need to come from increasing land productivity mainly through the supply, duplication and diffusion of continuously improving technology (Ayele et al 2006citing Reardon et al 1996Taffesse et al 2012;Elias et al 2013;Matsumoto and Yamano, 2010).…”

“…Like in many other SSA countries, agriculture in Ethiopia is a basis for the entire socioeconomic structure of the country and has a major influence on all other economic sectors and development processes and hence it plays a crucial role in poverty reduction (Elias et al, 2013;GebreEyesus, 2015). Despite the marginal decline in its share of GDP in recent years, it is still the single largest sector in terms of its contribution to GDP as agricultural GDP constitutes 41% of total country's GDP (CSA, 2014/15).…”