An integrated approach to solve small farm holder’s mechanization barriers in Ethiopia

Abstract

Ethiopia has a long history of agricultural practices. But the deployment of agricultural mechanization is still minimal. Farm power is largely dependent on human muscle and oxen driven traditional farm techniques. Even though the effort and interest of agricultural mechanization grew from time to time yet it is not effective due to poor deployment strategy. The main objective of this study was to review and assess the effectiveness of the existing agro-machinery manufacturing, distribution and use in Amhara region of Ethiopia; identify the barriers of agro-machinery deployment actions and design an effective deployment model. The study carried out through collecting and analysis of secondary data related to past attempts followed by. Then primary data gathered and analyzed from the target audience using survey questionnaire, focused group discussion and interview. The study result reveals that poor agricultural mechanization in the region basically associated with inadequate infrastructure, lack of financing institute, fragmented lands, working culture and related ones. In addition there is no clear, adequate and comprehensive agricultural mechanization deployment model. The level of these problems were analyzed quantitatively. Then agricultural mechanization deployment model has been designed. The model offers particular responsibilities for each deployment tasks and protect overlap of responsibilities, remove task redundancy and trace out failure easily.