Determinants of farmers’ adoption of land management practices in Gelana sub-watershed of Northern highlands of Ethiopia

Abstract

Introduction: Soil erosion is the major environmental problem in Ethiopia. In response to this problem, the country has been in continuous struggle to adopt land management practices. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the determinants of farmers’ adoption of land management practice in the Gelana sub-watershed, Northern highlands of Ethiopia. Methods: The data was collected from 176 randomly selected farming households using a survey questionnaire and was analyzed using multinomial logit model (MNL). Results: The results showed that education, family size, slope of the plot, tenure security, training, access to farm credit and extension service positively and significantly affect adoption of land management practices while age has a negative and significant influence on adoption. Conclusions: The findings suggest that improving farmers’ education status and increase the availability of credit to reduce poverty and increase income would enhance the adoption of land management practices.