Determinants of Adoption of Improved Vegetable Varieties and Its Impact on Smallholder Farmers Income in the Rural Area of Dire Dawa

In Ethiopia, low productivity of crops has been one of the significant contributors to food insecurity. Encouraging the rural households’ to use improved agricultural technologies and inputs to increase efficiency of production and productivity is among the important policy measures to address the problem undertaken by the government. The objective of this study was to analyze factors influencing the adoption of improved vegetable seeds and its impact on income of farm households of vegetables producers in rural kebeles of Dire Dawa Administrations. Primary data were collected from a sample of 207 households selected through probability proportional to size (PPS) random sampling technique to ensure representativeness of the population in all selected kebeles. Descriptive statistics and econometric models were used to analyze the data. Logistic regression model and propensity score matching method were used to analyze the factors influencing the adoption of improved vegetables seeds and impact of improved seeds on income, respectively. The results of the Logistic regression model shows that Age of the Households, Sex, Family size, Distance to nearest market and level of education significantly influenced the decision to adopt improved vegetables seeds. Result of propensity score matching method revealed that the adoption of improved vegetables seeds among the farmers has led their annual total income per hectare of the treated group to be higher by 39.3% as compared to the control group. The result also shows that the crop income particularly from improved vegetable production per hectare is higher for the treated group by 54.66 % as compare to the control group. Based on the findings, the study suggests that strengthening the promotion of full package of improved vegetable variety adoption will have crucial role towards improving the livelihood of households in the study area. In doing so, managing the possible influencing factors that affect adoption of improved vegetable variety should be a prerequisite.