Higher education and research in Ethiopia is going through a decisive phase of reform and expansion. As a system it is increasingly required to respond and gear adequately to the development needs of the society and t...Higher education and research in Ethiopia is going through a decisive phase of reform and expansion. As a system it is increasingly required to respond and gear adequately to the development needs of the society and the country. This change is taking place through a government-led radical review of the system’s status and challenges, and by devising mechanisms of consensus building, as well as ownership and overcoming the resistance to change. Higher education and research institutions of Bahir Dar and Gondar Universities and ARARI, in Ethiopia are not satisfactorily responsive to rural transformation in addressing problems of small-scale farmers. This calls for responsive education and research that addresses farmers’ constraints. Thus, to survey the suitability/appropriateness of the current training programmes of higher education and research institutions to address the actual problems of farmers is of paramount importance. To this effect, tools such as interview guide, checklist and questionnaires were put to use for data collection. Primary data was collected from observation, focus group discussions and key informant interviews. Descriptive statistics for quantitative data and triangulation for qualitative data were the prime techniques for data analysis. The result of the study shows that university heads, instructors, students, research heads, researchers and employees rated the suggested mechanisms, namely “inviting speakers from industries and farming community”, “visiting guest lecturers” and “special entrepreneurial project”, as the top most important for ensuring training and research closely to the reality in the society of Amhara region in facilitating agricultural growth and rural transformation. Besides, employers and farmers responded that fresh graduates are deficient with relevant technical skills because of less emphasis on experiential learning on higher education. Therefore, the curriculum for the training should give much weight to incorporate these suggested mechanisms and the higher institutions curriculum should be arranged in such a way that the trainees could obtain appropriate technical know-how.展开更多
Ethiopia is an agrarian country and agriculture is the backbone of its economy. Consequently, the government of Ethiopia has devised Agricultural Development Led Industrialization (ADLI) as the country’s overall econ...Ethiopia is an agrarian country and agriculture is the backbone of its economy. Consequently, the government of Ethiopia has devised Agricultural Development Led Industrialization (ADLI) as the country’s overall economic development policy. For the last 15 years, public investment towards the expansion of higher education, research and extension in agriculture has been so enormous. In reality, however, these higher education and research institutions were not sufficiently responsive to rural transformation. Thus, to evaluate the role of higher education and research institutions in stimulating rural transformation and to identify main training constraints accountable for their poor performances in institutional learning and rural transformation is of paramount importance. To this effect focus group discussions and key informant interviews were conducted. Stratified and purposive sampling technique was dominantly employed during the survey studies. The result of the study has shown that higher education and research institutions were less responsive to address the actual problems of small-scale farmers and they were limited by a number of constraints/challenges to address the actual problems of farmers. The major constraints were, to list some, limited involvement in research and extension works by the university staff, students limited practical attachments of the training programmes with farming communities, limited infrastructures and facilities and limited availability of contextualized learning resources. In addressing the aforesaid constraints/challenges, the university staff should proportionally allocate time in the research and extension activities on top of practical teaching supported by local research results and experience;involving students on practical attachments both in their academic and vacation time;giving emphasis on basic training preparation like fulfilling libraries, laboratories, demonstration fields and transportation facilities;and lastly to revise the existing curriculum in to the direction of solving the real problems of the Amhara region then the country Ethiopia.展开更多
Planting a fast-growing multipurpose Acacia decurrens (AD) tree is one of the climate-smart agricultural practices that have been promoted in Ethiopia, which is widely practiced and an important livelihood strategy in...Planting a fast-growing multipurpose Acacia decurrens (AD) tree is one of the climate-smart agricultural practices that have been promoted in Ethiopia, which is widely practiced and an important livelihood strategy in Awi zone. However, the extent of its adoption varies considerably among households in the study area. This study investigated the determinants of intensity of adoption of AD among 385 randomly selected rural households in Awi Zone. Data were gathered using a cross-sectional household survey. Descriptive statistics and Two-limit Tobit model were employed for data analysis. The result of the study shows that on average the intensity of adoption of AD was 0.43 (43% of the total cropland area), though majority of the farmers (48.8%) belong to low level of adoption. The result of the analysis shows that being male, educational level, access to seedling, experience in growing the tree, extension contact has positive and significant relationship with the intensity of adoption. Age of head of household, land holding size, livestock holding size, soil fertility status, disease emergence and road distance have negative and significant influence on intensity of adoption. These suggest that expanding road infrastructure, education, access to seedling, secure land property right, disease management, and provision of extension services related to the AD can also improve smallholder farmers’ intensity of AD adoption. The generated information provides a picture of the study area’s situation to the attention of policy makers, development practitioners and institutional service providers to formulate a better policy intervention to sustain smallholder farmers’ AD plantation.展开更多
Soil erosion has long been a problem in the Ethiopian highlands in general and Dembecha district in particular. The objective of this study was to identify factors influencing adoption of soil and water conservation p...Soil erosion has long been a problem in the Ethiopian highlands in general and Dembecha district in particular. The objective of this study was to identify factors influencing adoption of soil and water conservation practices. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from primary and sec-ondary sources. The primary data were collected from respondent samples and key informants through interview and personal observation. The secondary data were collected from sources such as books, journals, statistical reports and official documents. A multistage sampling technique was applied to select sample households. Sample sizes of 150 households were selected using simple random sampling. Both descriptive statistics and a multivariate probit econometric model were employed to analyze the data. The model results revealed that the likelihood of decisions to adopt soil bund, stone bund, check dam and strip cropping were 74, 56, 29 and 56%respectively. The joint probability of adopting the selected soil and water conservation practices was 14.2%. The model results also confirmed that age, sex, education level, household size, livestock holding, land size, access to credit, access to extension service and training were significant factors that affected the adoption of soil and water conservation practices in the study area. Based on our findings, the study suggests that the government and stakeholders should focus on strengthening the provision of formal and non-formal training and facilitate an effective extension service.展开更多
Adoption rates of soil and water conservation measures remain below the expected levels in Ethiopia despite the considerable investments in reducing land degradation and improving soil fertility.This constitutes one o...Adoption rates of soil and water conservation measures remain below the expected levels in Ethiopia despite the considerable investments in reducing land degradation and improving soil fertility.This constitutes one of the key research agendas in the country.This paper underscores the need for investigating the factors hindering or facilitating the adoption of soil and water conservation measures.The study results presented in this paper are based on cross-section data collected from 408 households in eastern Ethiopia,including field observations of 790 plots selected using a multi-stage sampling procedure.A multivariate probit model was employed to analyse the determinants of adoption of three soil and water conservation measures (stone bund,soil bund,and bench terracing) at the plot level.The study findings reveal that household,socioeconomic,and institution characteristics were the key factors that influenced the adoption of soil bund,stone bund,and bench terracing conservation measures.Furthermore,there was a significant correlation among the three soil and water conservation measures,indicating that the adoption of these measures is interrelated.In particular,the results show that there was a positive correlation between stone bunds and soil bunds.However,the correlations between bench terracing and stone bunds as well as bench terracing and soil bunds were negative (implying substitutability).These results imply that the Government and other relevant organizations that are responsible for reducing land degradation in order to increase agricultural production should support the establishment and strengthening of local institutions to facilitate the adoption of soil and water conservation measures.展开更多
文摘Higher education and research in Ethiopia is going through a decisive phase of reform and expansion. As a system it is increasingly required to respond and gear adequately to the development needs of the society and the country. This change is taking place through a government-led radical review of the system’s status and challenges, and by devising mechanisms of consensus building, as well as ownership and overcoming the resistance to change. Higher education and research institutions of Bahir Dar and Gondar Universities and ARARI, in Ethiopia are not satisfactorily responsive to rural transformation in addressing problems of small-scale farmers. This calls for responsive education and research that addresses farmers’ constraints. Thus, to survey the suitability/appropriateness of the current training programmes of higher education and research institutions to address the actual problems of farmers is of paramount importance. To this effect, tools such as interview guide, checklist and questionnaires were put to use for data collection. Primary data was collected from observation, focus group discussions and key informant interviews. Descriptive statistics for quantitative data and triangulation for qualitative data were the prime techniques for data analysis. The result of the study shows that university heads, instructors, students, research heads, researchers and employees rated the suggested mechanisms, namely “inviting speakers from industries and farming community”, “visiting guest lecturers” and “special entrepreneurial project”, as the top most important for ensuring training and research closely to the reality in the society of Amhara region in facilitating agricultural growth and rural transformation. Besides, employers and farmers responded that fresh graduates are deficient with relevant technical skills because of less emphasis on experiential learning on higher education. Therefore, the curriculum for the training should give much weight to incorporate these suggested mechanisms and the higher institutions curriculum should be arranged in such a way that the trainees could obtain appropriate technical know-how.
文摘Ethiopia is an agrarian country and agriculture is the backbone of its economy. Consequently, the government of Ethiopia has devised Agricultural Development Led Industrialization (ADLI) as the country’s overall economic development policy. For the last 15 years, public investment towards the expansion of higher education, research and extension in agriculture has been so enormous. In reality, however, these higher education and research institutions were not sufficiently responsive to rural transformation. Thus, to evaluate the role of higher education and research institutions in stimulating rural transformation and to identify main training constraints accountable for their poor performances in institutional learning and rural transformation is of paramount importance. To this effect focus group discussions and key informant interviews were conducted. Stratified and purposive sampling technique was dominantly employed during the survey studies. The result of the study has shown that higher education and research institutions were less responsive to address the actual problems of small-scale farmers and they were limited by a number of constraints/challenges to address the actual problems of farmers. The major constraints were, to list some, limited involvement in research and extension works by the university staff, students limited practical attachments of the training programmes with farming communities, limited infrastructures and facilities and limited availability of contextualized learning resources. In addressing the aforesaid constraints/challenges, the university staff should proportionally allocate time in the research and extension activities on top of practical teaching supported by local research results and experience;involving students on practical attachments both in their academic and vacation time;giving emphasis on basic training preparation like fulfilling libraries, laboratories, demonstration fields and transportation facilities;and lastly to revise the existing curriculum in to the direction of solving the real problems of the Amhara region then the country Ethiopia.
文摘Planting a fast-growing multipurpose Acacia decurrens (AD) tree is one of the climate-smart agricultural practices that have been promoted in Ethiopia, which is widely practiced and an important livelihood strategy in Awi zone. However, the extent of its adoption varies considerably among households in the study area. This study investigated the determinants of intensity of adoption of AD among 385 randomly selected rural households in Awi Zone. Data were gathered using a cross-sectional household survey. Descriptive statistics and Two-limit Tobit model were employed for data analysis. The result of the study shows that on average the intensity of adoption of AD was 0.43 (43% of the total cropland area), though majority of the farmers (48.8%) belong to low level of adoption. The result of the analysis shows that being male, educational level, access to seedling, experience in growing the tree, extension contact has positive and significant relationship with the intensity of adoption. Age of head of household, land holding size, livestock holding size, soil fertility status, disease emergence and road distance have negative and significant influence on intensity of adoption. These suggest that expanding road infrastructure, education, access to seedling, secure land property right, disease management, and provision of extension services related to the AD can also improve smallholder farmers’ intensity of AD adoption. The generated information provides a picture of the study area’s situation to the attention of policy makers, development practitioners and institutional service providers to formulate a better policy intervention to sustain smallholder farmers’ AD plantation.
文摘Soil erosion has long been a problem in the Ethiopian highlands in general and Dembecha district in particular. The objective of this study was to identify factors influencing adoption of soil and water conservation practices. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from primary and sec-ondary sources. The primary data were collected from respondent samples and key informants through interview and personal observation. The secondary data were collected from sources such as books, journals, statistical reports and official documents. A multistage sampling technique was applied to select sample households. Sample sizes of 150 households were selected using simple random sampling. Both descriptive statistics and a multivariate probit econometric model were employed to analyze the data. The model results revealed that the likelihood of decisions to adopt soil bund, stone bund, check dam and strip cropping were 74, 56, 29 and 56%respectively. The joint probability of adopting the selected soil and water conservation practices was 14.2%. The model results also confirmed that age, sex, education level, household size, livestock holding, land size, access to credit, access to extension service and training were significant factors that affected the adoption of soil and water conservation practices in the study area. Based on our findings, the study suggests that the government and stakeholders should focus on strengthening the provision of formal and non-formal training and facilitate an effective extension service.
基金the Africa Economic Research Consortium(AERC),German Academic Exchange Service(DAAD)and Haramaya University for funding the study and production of this paper.
文摘Adoption rates of soil and water conservation measures remain below the expected levels in Ethiopia despite the considerable investments in reducing land degradation and improving soil fertility.This constitutes one of the key research agendas in the country.This paper underscores the need for investigating the factors hindering or facilitating the adoption of soil and water conservation measures.The study results presented in this paper are based on cross-section data collected from 408 households in eastern Ethiopia,including field observations of 790 plots selected using a multi-stage sampling procedure.A multivariate probit model was employed to analyse the determinants of adoption of three soil and water conservation measures (stone bund,soil bund,and bench terracing) at the plot level.The study findings reveal that household,socioeconomic,and institution characteristics were the key factors that influenced the adoption of soil bund,stone bund,and bench terracing conservation measures.Furthermore,there was a significant correlation among the three soil and water conservation measures,indicating that the adoption of these measures is interrelated.In particular,the results show that there was a positive correlation between stone bunds and soil bunds.However,the correlations between bench terracing and stone bunds as well as bench terracing and soil bunds were negative (implying substitutability).These results imply that the Government and other relevant organizations that are responsible for reducing land degradation in order to increase agricultural production should support the establishment and strengthening of local institutions to facilitate the adoption of soil and water conservation measures.
