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This study aims to understand how Rwandan farmers value the improved characteristics of climate services introduced to them in a choice experiment setting. Data were collected from 1,525 household heads in November 2019. A random parameters logit model was used to analyze the data. Results suggest that Rwandan farmers value forecast accuracy, dissemination through a combination of extension agents and the Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture process, and bundling with market price information. This study suggests that to improve agricultural management planning and food security of farmers through the provision of climate services, these services need to be accurate, user-tailored, and accessible.

This paper aims to better understand actors involved in the generation, translation, communication and governance of agricultural climate services and their networks in Ethiopia. To achieve these o...

This study estimated the economic value of agricultural climate services for strengthening the resilience of smallholder farmers to climate variability and risks in Ethiopia. Using a choice experiment approach, the study introduced a hypothetical package of improved climate services to 600 randomly selected smallholder farmers in three districts across three different agro-ecological zones in the Oromia Regional State. A generalized multinomial logit (G-MNL) model was used to estimate preferred attributes of climate services and willingness-to-pay (WTP) values. The results show that the preferred bundle of improved climate services among smallholder farmers was one that could be communicated in short text message system, provided along with credit facility, and market information and one that favors participatory decision making by smallholders. The results further reveal that the WTP value exhibited high implicit price for participatory decision-making. The study sheds light on important characteristics of agricultural climate services that may improve their acceptability and usability among smallholders. It also highlights the importance of packaging additional services including digital and ICT-based solutions, financial and market information along with climate services to promote demand-driven last mile delivery systems. Engaging smallholder farmers in a participatory manner in the decision-making process can help them make informed decision.

Unsustainable land use management and the resulting soil erosion are among the most pervasive problems in rural Ethiopia, where most of the country’s people live, jeopardizing food security. Despite various efforts to introduce soil conservation measures and assess their costs and benefits, it is unclear how efficient these measures are from an economic point of view in securing food production. This paper examines the costs and benefits of three soil conservation measures applied in the country in three different rural districts facing different degrees of soil erosion problems using survey data collected from 750 farm households. A production function is estimated to quantify the costs and benefits of more sustainable land use management practices. We show that the soil conservation measures significantly increase productivity and hence food security. Comparing the costs and benefits, the results indicate that implementing soil conservation measures would benefit farm communities in the case study areas through increased grain productivity and food security.

The aim of this study was to investigate the main factors that influence smallholders' adoption decision of soil conservation measures in the Gedeb watershed. Data from 498 household heads who live in the three districts of the watershed were analysed using the binary logistic regression model. We find that farmers need adequate cash to invest in soil conservation measures. Moreover, farmers would be more encouraged to implement soil conservation measures when they have larger areas of cropland. We explore the possibility that when farmers presume that they have fertile land, they exploit their land more. This hints at the need for extension advice about the benefit of sustainable use of farmers' cropland so that they can maintain their land and pass it on to the future generation. Farmers' awareness about the benefit of land management practices and recognition of the problem erosion is causing on their crop land are central to their decision to adopt soil conservation measures. Furthermore, to adopt these measures, farmers have to be convinced about the effectiveness of these measures. Thus, awareness creation and demonstration of the effectiveness of these measures is essential. Because of the transboundary nature of the problem, policy makers in downstream countries that are suffering from the off-site impact (e.g. Sudan) would benefit from the information provided and support efforts in the implementation of soil conservation measures.

A study was conducted in the Ambo district of western Ethiopia in 2006 to understand the poverty reduction impacts of small-scale irrigation development, using the Indris irrigation system as a case study. The study was based on a survey of representative farm households with and without access to irrigation. The total sample size for the study was 222 (107 households with access to irrigation and 115 without). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, the Foster, Greer and Thobeck poverty indices, and Heckman's selectivity model. Results indicate that the incidence, depth, and severity of poverty are significantly lower among those farm households with access to irrigation. In addition to irrigation, other variables such as farm size, livestock holding size, land productivity, and family size significantly influence the level of household consumption expenditure. However, the proportion of poor people in the overall sample, notwithstanding access to irrigation, is alarmingly high, indicating the deep-rooted and critical situation of poverty in rural Ethiopia. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Ethiopia’s irrigation potential is estimated at 3.7 million hectare, of which only about 190,000 ha (4.3% of the potential) is actually irrigated. There is little information on the extent to which the so far developed irrigation schemes have been effective in meeting their stated objectives of attaining food self-sufficiency and eradicating poverty. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to identify the impact of small-scale irrigation on household food security based on data obtained from 200 farmers in Ada Liben district of Ethiopia in 2006. The resulting data was analyzed using Heckman’s Two-step Estimation procedure. Studies elsewhere revealed that access to reliable irrigation water can enable farmers to adopt new technologies and intensify cultivation, leading to increased productivity, overall higher production, and greater returns from farming. Our study findings confirm some of these claims. In the study area about 70% of the irrigation users are food secure while only 20% of the non-users are found to be food secure. Access to small scale irrigation enabled the sample households to grow crops more than once a year; to insure increased and stable production, income and consumption; and improve their food security status. The study concludes that small-scale irrigation significantly contributed to household food security.