Determinants of Adoption of Improved Teff Variety and Its Impact on Household Food Security in Gena District, Dawuro Zone, South West Region, Ethiopia

Abstract

In Ethiopia, increasing household food security is largely dependent on the adoption of improved teff variety. The main goal of this study was to examine how the adoption of improved teff variety affected on the households food security. The data was collected from Gena Woreda of Dawuro Zone, South West Region, Ethiopia in 2024. The survey consists of 219 sampled teff growers out of whom 91 were improved teff variety adopters and 128 were non-adopters. The study employed a two-stage sampling techniques, purposively selecting rural Kebeles followed by simple random sampling of households. Sample households provided cross-sectional data for the study. The study employed a probit model and an Endogenous Switching Regression (ESR) model to investigate the factors influencing the adoption of improved teff variety and the resulting impact on household food security. According to the findings of the probit model, the adoption of improved teff variety was significantly and positively associated with the frequency of extension contact, cooperative membership, and tropical livestock unit. However, the adoption of the improved teff variety was negatively and significantly influenced by the sex of the household head and the distance to the market. The impact results from the ESR models showed that if adopters had not chosen to adopt the improved teff variety, their food consumption score and household consumption expenditure would have decreased by 3.92 and 7612.77 ETB annually, respectively. However, if non-adopters choose to change to the enhanced teff variety, their household consumption expenditure and food consumption score increased by 6030.13 ETB annually and 0.05, respectively. Additionally, the endogenous treatment effect model results showed that the adoption of the improved teff variety had a significantly positive influence on the household food consumption expenditure and score. Accordingly, promoting farmers to membership of cooperatives, improving frequency of extension contact, creating reliable information and awareness about improved farm technology, and timely agricultural inputs supply will increase farmers’ decision to adopt improved teff variety in the area