Benchmarking the Status of Agricultural Mechanization in Ethiopia

Mechanization is the key component among the factors that enhance the intensification of agriculture. To grasp the benchmark status of agricultural mechanization, a household survey was conducted in the crop potential areas of Oromia, SNNP, Amhara, and Tigray regions. The study indicated that the size of land owned by the households is estimated at 1.25 ha. Smallholder farmers do not have the capability to acquire large farm machinery; however, the mechanism of access in some parts of the country is through private and group-owned hiring services. Specifically, tractor ploughing received the largest acceptance for which utilization accounts for 17% followed by combine harvesting with a rate of 12%. Livestock mechanization makes up only 1% of the overall sample households. A large portion of the study areas nearly 40.3% have no access to tractors, combine harvesters, and threshers. Unlike the state-induced past mechanization attempts that come up with failures, some parts of the country are better mechanized since many years ago while the rest of the areas are lagging far behind. The mechanization trend shows that for all the available practices, about 50% and even more of the households have become familiar with the application of mechanical power during the recent five years. The study findings further declare that there is a large variation among regions and crop types on the access and utilization of mechanization, ranging from none to full coverage. As the weighted mechanization index confirms, the mechanically operated activities in Oromia, SNNP, Amhara, and Tigray regions account for 12.1%, 4.38%, 4.35%, and 3.48%, respectively. The mechanization index is the highest for the wheat crop in contrast to the major cereals. The proportion of the mechanically operated activities are found to be 9.93% for wheat, 5.20% for maize, 2.25% for sorghum, and 0.84% for teff. The major impediments for the machinery supply system include shortage of foreign currency, unavailability and expensiveness of maintenance, spare parts and raw materials, and shortage of trained operators. In contrast to imports, the machinery-manufacturing sector received inadequate policy support. To maintain the effective functioning of the agricultural mechanization system and to address the growing demand for machinery, enhancing the opportunities and taking strategic measures against the most hampering factors remain important.