DETERMINANTS OF FERTILIZER ADOPTION AND ADOPTION LEVEL AMONG SMALL HOLDER WHEAT FARMERS IN MISRAK SILTI WOREDA, SILTIE ZONE, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA.

Abstract Fertilizer is one of the major productivity enhancing inputs. Hence, increased and effective use of fertilizer can be considered as a more plausible alternative in Ethiopia to bridge the wide gap of food shortage. This study aims to analyze determinants of fertilizer adoption and adoption level among smallholder wheat farmers in Misraqesiltiworeda, siltie zone, southern Ethiopia.The research design used in this study was descriptive survey design and the design is preferred because it allows analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data.The study would be employed a multistage sampling procedure for fertilizer adopter sampling. First, the target woreda of MisraqeSilti selected purposively. In the second stage, stratified Misraqesiltiworedakebeles based on ecologically. into two (low altitude consists of two and mid altitude consists nine kebeles). In the last stage, simple random sampling was used to select three kebeles randomly since the study was focused on the inorganic fertilizer use intensity on wheat crops at district level.Finally, the researcher used simple random sampling for respondent selection from the selected kebeles 2840 total small holder and 190 sample HH heads was selected as sample size and researcher used econometric (doublehurdle) model.The adoption of new technology, under varying contextual setting, is influenced by many socioeconomic, institutional and demographic factors of the farm households.In fertilizer adoption Age, off farm, and Distance were statistically significant and negative whereas Sex, education, Family size, Credit, Farm Experience, Land in hectare,land fertility Rate, Extension Service, and Farm income were statistically significant and positive. In fertilizer adoption level Family size, Farm experience, Extension services were statistically significant and positive on the other hand off farm were statistically significant and negative. Generally Fertilizer adoption challenged by Income of the respondents, Lack of awareness, In accessibility of transportation, Limited supply of fertilizer, Lack of training and Lack of credit access. In the study lack of training is challenge for fertilizer adoption of small holder farmers. Lack of training of farmers about the use of fertilizer hinders the adoption practice. So the government should facilitate training program for the farmers.