Impact of agricultural technology adoption on wheat productivity: Evidence from North Shewa Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia

Wheat is one of the most important cereal crops cultivated in wide range
of agro-ecologies in Ethiopia. But, its productivity has remained low. Hence, this
study intends to examine the impact of agricultural technology adoption on wheat
productivity in north Shewa zone of the Amhara region, Ethiopia. The analysis is
based on household level data covering 693 households collected in 2020.
Multinomial logit model (MNL) and multinomial endogenous switching regression
(MESR) models are used for analysis. The results reveal that agricultural technology
adoptions are affected by the education level of the household head, off-farm
employment, tropical livestock, access to credit, household saving, extension visit,
and distance from the market. In addition, the study shows that the adoption of
fertilizer and/or improved seed increases wheat productivity significantly.
Furthermore, the adoption of a combined fertilizer and improved seed provides
higher productivity than the adoption of single technologies. Therefore, this study
recommends that government and other stakeholders should have to work in
collaboration with rural farmers to increase rural technology generation; dissemination
and adoption interventions to improve wheat productivity in the study area.