Drought and Sustainable Intensification Technologies Adoption in Ethiopia
Conference
10th International Conference on Agricultural Statistics
Format: CPS Abstract - ICAS 2026
Abstract
Agriculture in Ethiopia is highly influenced by drought. Understanding the relationship between drought and the adoption of Sustainable Intensification Technologies (SITs) is important for informed decision-making. The SITs were well recognized for their important contribution to improving agricultural yield and resilience. To achieve the objectives, this study employs two waves of nationally representative data from the Living Standards Measurement Study. The socioeconomic data were integrated with the historical monthly rainfall data from 1981 to 2022, obtained from the Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation with Station data. While the primary focus was to examine the effect of drought on SIT adoption, it was also estimated that models that control for additional covariates identified as determinants of SIT adoption, using the Multivariate Probit model. The findings of the study indicated that exposure to drought decreases the adoption of high-risk SITs, such as inorganic fertilizer, while increasing the adoption of risk-reducing SITs, such as manure and irrigation. Moreover, most of the correlation coefficients among the SITs were positive, indicating that smallholder farmers tend to adopt multiple SITs simultaneously. These results had significant implications for the adoption of SITs, particularly in extreme climate conditions such as drought.