Smallholders' Conservation Agriculture Adoption Decision in Arba Minch and Derashe Districts of Southwestern Ethiopia

This study examines smallholder farmers’ conservation agriculture (CA) adoption decisions from a soil management perspective in two semiarid areas of southwestern Ethiopia. The analysis was based on a survey of 392 household heads in each of the mixed maize/sorghum/teff + Moringa stenopetala of Derashe district and maize/teff + banana fruit tree in Arba Minch Zuriya district farming systems. Two groups of smallholders that practice different land management, i.e., conservation agriculture and conventional tillage, were selected. A binary logistic regression model was used to answer the question of factors that determine smallholders’ initial decision to adopt CA. Nine explanatory variables including the age of the household head, level of formal education, family size, size of total landholding in hectares, size of livestock owned in the tropical livestock unit, farming experience, net income from annual + perennial crops, provided extension service by development agents, and lack of access to small-scale irrigation were included in the analysis. The study result revealed that nonpracticing groups have higher schooling, farmland holding, and livestock relative to CA-practicing households. Households with increasing age, schooling, total livestock holding, and higher net per annum income were less likely to practice CA. However, the CA practicing decision was high with an increase in extension service and lack of access to small-scale irrigation. Though CA with the Targa-na-Potayta mulching technique is an age-old practice in the Derashe area, the impact of extension service has indispensable benefits in extending the knowledge to younger smallholders.