Background: Adoption of improved agricultural technologies remains to be a promising strategy to achieve food security and poverty reduction in many developing countries. However, there are limited rigorous impact evaluations on the contributions of such technologies on household welfare. This paper investigates the impact of improved agricultural technology use on farm household income in eastern Ethiopia.Methods: Primary data for the study was obtained from a random sample of 248 rural households, 119 of which are improved technology users and the rest are non-users. The research employed the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) procedure to establish the causal relationship between adoption of improved crop and livestock technologies and changes in farm income.Results: Results from the econometric analysis show that households using improved agricultural technologies had, on average, 23,031.28 Birr (Birr is the official currency of Ethiopia. The exchange rate according to the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) was 1 USD = 27.6017 Birr on 04 October 2018.) higher annual farm income compared to those households not using such technologies. Our findings highlight the importance of promoting multiple and complementary agricultural technologies among rural smallholders.Conclusions: We suggest that rural technology generation, dissemination and adoption interventions be strengthened. Moreover, the linkage among research, extension, universities and farmers needs to be enhanced through facilitating a multistakeholders innovation platforms.

Background: Agriculture remains to be the leading sector that contributes enormously to economic development in Ethiopia. Despite its significant contribution to livelihoods, the sector faces persistent challenges due to depletion of natural resources and soil erosion that resulted in diminishing crop and livestock productivity. In order to curb the effects of land degradation, the Government of Ethiopia has been taking serious measures to expand Soil and Water Conservation (SWC) practices throughout the country. Despite the efforts made, the adoption of new practices by farmers have been generally low. This study was aimed at assessing factors influencing smallholder farmers’ decision on the use of improved structural SWC practices in Haramaya district, eastern Ethiopia. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 120 farm households and 248 plots. A structured interview schedule was used to collect primary data. Descriptive and inferential statistics and Multinomial Logit (MNL) regression model were used to analyze the data. Results: The key findings showed that a host of socio-demographic, economic and institutional factors significantly affected smallholders’ decision to adopt improved structural SWC. In this study, we found that education, farming experience, plot area, distance of the plot from dwelling unit, number of economically active household members, and extension contact were the significant predictors of using improved SWC structures. Conclusions: Based on our findings, we concluded that improved SWC measures should be scaled up through a concerted effort of extension workers, local administration and other relevant non-state actors. In particular, the extension system should encourage rural communities on sustainable management and use of natural resources. Moreover, the need to create learning opportunities through facilitating appropriate educational and training programs for farmers and focusing on proper management of available economically active household members should be emphasized.

Achieving sustainable food and nutrition security calls for multi-sectoral coordination mechanisms in implementing, among others, nutrition-sensitive agricultural interventions. Despite progresses made in evaluating the effectiveness/impact of these interventions in some countries, very little is known about the nature and causal effect of these interventions in Ethiopia. Therefore, this systematic review aims to provide evidence on the impact of nutrition-sensitive agricultural interventions and pathways linking agriculture to improved nutrition. Based on a comprehensive advanced literature search using keywords in various databases and setting inclusion/screening criteria, we identify 25 relevant studies conducted between 2008 and 2018. Overall, we find positive effects on knowledge, attitude, and practice of complementary feeding and economic indicators (income, poverty and asset accumulation). We also find an overwhelming positive effect on food consumption, dietary diversity, and food security indicators. However, we also note mixed effectiveness in relation to child anthropometry. The most important pathways linking agriculture to improved nutrition center on its role as a source of food and income, and its effect on food prices/market. Hence, enhancing community-based nutrition education, accelerating adoption of improved technologies, improving access to farm inputs and technical information, integrating farmers to markets, and boosting enabling environments and capacities should be emboldened.