Effects Of Locus Of Control And Aspiration On Agricultural Technology Adoption The Case Of Jabi-tehnan District Northern Ethiopia

Agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) including Ethiopia remains low; and onernprimary reason is low adoption of agricultural technologies. The external reasons (e.g., creditrnconstraints) why farmers do not adopt productivity-increasing technologies have been documentedrnextensively. However, there are limited studies on the potential role of behavioral andrnpsychological factors, which are factors internal to the decision makers, in influencing technologyrnadoption decisions. In this study, we examine the effects of locus of control and aspiration ofrnfarming households on technology adoption decisions in Northwest Ethiopia. We use a householdrnsurvey data collected from Jabi-Tehnan district of the Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia. The datarnis collected by the Social Sciences and Impact Assessment Unit of the International Centre of InsectrnPhysiology and Ecology (icipe). We use binary logistic regression model to estimate the effect ofrnlocus of control and aspiration on adoption decision of agricultural technologies: fertilizers,rnirrigation, pesticides, and push-pull technology. To estimate the intensity of adoption, we also usernordered logistic model. We find that households with higher internal locus of control and highrnaspiration levels have higher propensity to adopt agricultural technologies. In contrast,rnhouseholds with high external locus of control have low propensity to adopt agriculturalrntechnologies. In terms of intensity of adoption, households with high internal locus of control andrnhigh aspiration level are associated with adoption of higher number of agricultural technologiesrnand more use of inputs per hectare. In contrast, households with high external locus of control arernassociated with adoption of lower number of technologies and less use of inputs per hectare.rnBesides, access to extension service, access to credit, land size and information (for newrntechnologies) are found to be the main factors affecting adoption decision and intensity ofrnadoption. The findings suggest that interventions that improve farmers’ internal locus of controlrnand aspiration for a better future may promote the adoption of agricultural technologies.rnParticularly, effectively utilizing the agricultural extension system for the purpose of enhancingrnfarming households’ psychological or non-cognitive skills and improving aspiration level mayrnfacilitate the promotion of agricultural technologies, as the extension system is a bridge betweenrnfarmers and agricultural technologies

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