Adoption of Improved Soybean Varieties and Its Impact on Households’ Food Security: The Case of Pawe Woreda, Western Ethiopia

The importance of agricultural technology in enhancing the welfares of farmers can be realized when yield gain from the technologies results in meaningful gain in nutritionally adequate foods. In this regard, improved varieties were play a great role in improving households food security, food consumption, and food diversity, and there-by contributing to nutrition security. This study therefore, analyzed factors that influence adoption of improved soybean varieties and its effect on households’ food security. The study was conducted in Pawe district. Hurdle models were used to analyze factors affecting adoption and intensity of improved soybean varieties. An endogenous switching regression (ESR) model was used to analyze the impact of improved soybean varieties on households’ food security – i.e. using food security scale, food consumption score, and household dietary diversity score as proxy variables. The double Hurdle models results showed that family size, Farm Size, the existence of neighbor adopters, market distance, extension credit, perception, training, and total household income were the driving factors of adoption probability and use intensity of improved soybean varieties. The ESR model results indicated that adoption of improved soybean varieties increases the average dietary diversity score and food consumption scale by 0.53 and 5.91 points, respectively. Consistently, the food security scale estimation result also showed that adoption of improved soybean varieties reduces food insecurity by 2.56 units. These results suggest that promotion and adoption of improved soybean varieties will contribute to improve the nutritional status of the farming households.