Adoption of ARDU Moldboard Plough in Arsi and West Arsi Zones, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract This study was conducted with the objectives of quantifying the adoption rate and its determinants that affect the adoption of ARDU plough in the Arsi and West Arsi Zones. The data were collected from a sample of 192 farm households (90 adopters and 102 non-adopters of ARDU plough). Adopter farming experience was higher than that of non-adopter households and significant at 1% level of significance. Utilizing the ARDU moldboard plough had advantage of saving time of plough, reducing repetition of plough, turning over furrow slices, and serving for a long period of time. However, availability, portability, and easiness for Oxen to pull were the top three ranked constraints. The results of the binary logistics regression model indicate that adoption of ARDU moldboard plough was influenced by distance from extension services, total livestock holdings, and access to ARDU moldboard plough services. Since the ARDU moldboard ploughs has several advantages, demonstrations and scaling up of the technology, training microenterprises and individual firms for mass production, and modifying its weight, are very important.