Evaluation of Current Farm Machinery Utilization and Farm Productivity in Hadiya Zone, Central Ethiopia

Using farm machinery to improve farming has several benefits, such as labor saving, the higher labor efficiency, and the more precise and timely operations. This study aimed to identify farmland eligible for mechanization in the Hadiya zone, central Ethiopia through formal interviews and key informant interviews in selected districts. With data from 2019 to 2023, the study used both quantitative and qualitative approaches to examine productivity and machinery usage status. According to the data, 16.98% and 20.81% of farmland was mechanized in 2019 and 2023, respectively. The productivity of cereal crops increased when they were mechanized as opposed to not. According to the mechanization index measurement result, Shashogo had the highest mechanical power (30.8%), and Misrak Badawacho had the lowest (11.88%); this showed that human work requires a large energy input per hectare for Misrak Badawacho district. The article estimated differences in productivity between mechanized and non-mechanized plots for different crops. They amounted to 34.80%, 47.85%, 29.41%, and 46.58% for respective barley, teff, wheat, and maize. There were variations of horsepower per hectare among districts in the Hadiya zone due to landscape orientation and access to the existing resources in Lemo and Misrak Badawacho districts horsepower/hectare was 0.15 and 0.20, respectively. The result showed that out of the total cultivable land in the Hadiya zone, about 146,551 ha of land is eligible for mechanization in terms of both farm production and machinery utilization. The Central regional government is advised to support the appropriate use of agricultural equipment that is affordable for subsistence farmers through rental or credit terms; to apply the cluster farming system for small landholding in an appropriate manner for each district in the Hadiya zone; and to use farm machinery, as the study found a significant relationship between farm machinery and farm productivity: the low farm productivity results from low machinery utilization, which is caused by the government, lack of focus on farmer support, environmental sustainability, and farm production declines despite machinery utilization in central Ethiopia, Hadiya zone, and to use farm machinery, as the study found a significant relationship between farm machinery and farm productivity.