Determinants of Wheat Varietal Replacement: The Case of Gedeb Hasasa Woreda, West Arsi Zone, Ethiopia

Abstract

Varietal replacement is very low among small scale farmers in Ethiopia in general and in the study area in particular. In order to increase wheat varietal replacement rate it is important to know the factors that influenced farmers’ decision. Thus, this study was carried out to determine factors affecting wheat varietal replacement in Gedeb Hasasa woreda. The study was conducted based on a sample size of 175 farmer respondents from four kebeles in Gedeb Hasasa woreda. Multi-stage sampling procedure was employed to select sample farmers and structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Descriptive statistics was used for analyzing quantitative data. Binary logit model was used to determine factors that influence wheat varietal replacement decision. The model results indicated that seed price, field day visit, access to new variety, farm size, maturity time, and disease resistance were significant determinant of wheat varietal replacement. Therefore, any effort in increasing wheat varietal replacement rate in the study area should consider at most the varietal attribute and institutional characteristics.

Keywords: Logit model, varietal replacement, wheat