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Adopting agricultural technologies is crucial to improve productivity and livelihoods in developing countries. While much research has focused on adoption decisions, understanding dis-adoption, when farmers stop using technology, is equally important. Studies on agricultural technology adoption often treat dis-adopters (those who initially adopted but later discontinued to use) and never-adopters (those who never adopted) as the same, using binary models to analyze farmers' decisions. We argue that a better understanding of these decisions can be achieved by separately analyzing 'never-adoption', 'dis-adoption', and 'adoption.' Using nationally representative data from three African countries, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Tanzania, we developed a multinomial logit model to analyze the adoption of improved chicken breeds. Our findings show that dis-adopters of improved chicken are different from never-adopters. Factors associated with dis-adoption include gender and education of household heads, access to training and extension services, breeding and culling practices, access to markets, use of complementary inputs, production objectives, landholding size, income diversity, and access to finance. Policies and strategies that aim to enhance sustained adoption and use of improved chicken breeds should promote a bundle of technologies, including tailored training, women empowerment, locally adapted and farmer-preferred chicken breeds, complementary inputs and services, innovative marketing strategies, and delivery models for bundles of technologies., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Birhanu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

We test the hypothesis whether levels of key traits of sheep heterogeneously affect market prices of sheep in a rural setting. Feasible generalized least squares and (un)conditional quantile regression estimations were made on a dataset of 1153 sheep transactions in two primary small ruminant markets in the Amhara region of Ethiopia. The empirical results show that animal traits affect the observed prices of sheep differently, but only partly explain the sheep price differences. Our results also reveal that in addition to animal traits, the type of buyers and seasonality of sheep marketing cause heterogeneity in the observed prices. These findings imply that targeting the animal traits demanded by the market and access to price information that enables farmers to respond to the seasonal changes in livestock markets are essential to increase the income of sheep keepers., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Yitayew et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

This study addresses the question whether an 'attention reminder' in discrete choice experiments (DCE) affects preferences, willingness to pay (WTP), and attribute non-attendance (ANA). We report on an experiment which elicited preferences for livestock market facilities from 960 randomly selected farm households in Ethiopia. Basic diagnostic comparisons of the estimations showed that taste parameters are significantly different and the WTP values of two (out of eight) facilities are different between before and after the reminder. Latent class model based ANA analysis revealed that the reminder has increased fully compensatory choice behavior [full attention] among sample respondents. The mixed logit models estimated in WTP space also showed that the WTP values are slightly smaller for most of the facilities after the reminder. In terms of relative importance, veterinary clinic, fenced shed, and watering trough facilities are the three livestock market facilities valued most by the farm households both before and after the reminder. Our results imply that researchers studying behaviors of rural communities in developing countries using DCEs might be able to address issues related to heuristics if they reminded respondents of the need to pay attention to all elements in the experiment unless understanding the choice decision making process itself is the point of interest. Empirically, livestock market development initiatives need to take into account farmers' clear and consistent prioritization of the market facilities., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Improved breeding practices and participatory health services have been designed and implemented by a partnership between national and international institutions in various parts of Ethiopia since 2014. Based on a panel data of two waves, we have estimated the impact of these interventions on small ruminant fertility, offtake, return per head of animal, and gross income per adult equivalent. Different specifications of the difference-in-differences model revealed that access to small ruminant health services has increased offtake, return per head of sheep/goat, and gross income per adult equivalent. Participants in community-based small ruminant breeding have also higher offtake and gross income per capita than those who are not taking part. The findings of this study are expected to help understand the economic benefits that accrue to rural areas when livestock development interventions are made based on the right diagnosis. The results of this study will also be useful in informing the ongoing discussion in Ethiopia on the transformation of the livestock sector., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The reviewer SS declared a shared affiliation with one of the authors, SG, to the handling editor at time of review., (Copyright © 2021 Kassie, Asnake, Haile, Mengistu, Gizaw and Rischkowsky.)

The data described in this brief were collected in 2018 as part of a national study to elicit preferences and estimate willingness to pay (WTP) for small ruminant market facilities in Ethiopia. We employed multistage sampling method to identify respondents. First, Menz Gishe area was selected from North Shewa administrative zone for its high small ruminant population. Second, three districts from five districts found in Menz Gishe were selected randomly. Then, eight Kebeles from fifty one Kebeles were selected randomly. Finally, 360 farmers were randomly selected proportional to the total number of farm households in each Kebele. We used discrete choice experiments to elicit preferences from the 360 respondents across the three districts whereby we presented 12 choice situations to each of them and hence generated 4320 observations. Generalized multinomial logit model (GMNL) and latent class model were used to investigate preferences for the market and heterogeneities around them. We also estimated the GMNL in WTP space to estimate the WTP values for the facilities. The dataset complements an original article entitled " Preference and Willingness to Pay for Small Ruminant Market Facilities in the Central Highlands of Ethiopia " and will be useful in replicating results for academic purposes and or employing the data for further development of choice behavior models., Competing Interests: Authors declare no conflicts of interest with respect to authorship and publication of this article., (© 2021 The Authors.)

Community-based breeding programs (CBBPs) for small ruminants have been suggested as alternatives to centralised, government-controlled breeding schemes which have been implemented in many developing countries. An innovative methodological framework on how to design, implement and sustain CBBPs was tested in three sites in Ethiopia: Bonga, Horro and Menz. In these CBBPs, the main selection trait identified through participatory approaches was 6-month weight in all three sites. In Horro and Bonga, where resources such as feed and water permitted larger litter sizes, twinning rate was included. Ten-year (2009 to 2018) performance data from the breeding programs were analysed using Average Information Restricted Maximum Likelihood method (AI-REML). Additionally, the socioeconomic impact of CBBPs was assessed. Results indicated that 6-month weight increased over the years in all breeds. In Bonga, the average increase was 0.21 ± 0.018 kg/year, followed by 0.18 ± 0.007 and 0.11 ± 0.003 kg/year in Horro and Menz, respectively. This was quite substantial in an on-farm situation. The birth weight of lambs did not improve over the years in Bonga and Horro sheep but significant increases occurred in Menz. Considering that there was no direct selection on birth weight in the community flock, the increased weights observed in Menz could be due to correlated responses, but this was not the case in Bonga and Horro. The genetic trend for prolificacy over the years in both Bonga and Horro flocks was positive and significant (P < 0.01). This increase in litter size, combined with the increased 6-month body weight, increased income by 20% and farm-level meat consumption from slaughter of one sheep per year to three. The results show that CBBPs are technically feasible, result in measurable genetic gains in performance traits and impact the livelihoods of farmers.

Maize plays a leading role in the food security of millions in southern Africa, yet it is highly vulnerable to the moisture stress brought about by the erratic rainfall patterns that characterize weather systems in the area. Developing and making drought-tolerant maize varieties available to farmers in the region has thus long been a key goal on the regional development agenda. Farm-level adoption of these varieties, however, depends on local perceptions of the value they add, along with willingness to pay (WTP) for it. Focusing on Zimbabwe, this research aimed at estimating the implicit prices farmers are willing to pay for drought tolerance in maize compared to other preferred traits. Using a choice experiment framework, we generated 12,600 observations from a random sample of 1,400 households in communal areas within 14 districts of Zimbabwe. Taste parameters and heterogeneities were estimated using the generalized multinomial logit model (G-MNL). The results reveal drought tolerance, grain yield, covered cob tip, cob size, and semi-flint texture to be the most preferred traits by farm households in Zimbabwe. The WTP estimates show that farmers are willing to pay a premium for drought tolerance equal to 2.56, 7, 3.2, and 5 times higher than for an additional ton of yield per acre, bigger cob size, larger grain size, and covered cob tip, respectively. We suggest designing and implementing innovative ways of promoting DT maize along with awareness-raising activities to enhance contextual understandings of drought and drought risk to speed adoption of new DT maize varieties by risk-prone farming communities. Given the high level of rural literacy and the high rate of adoption of improved maize, trait-based promotion and marketing of varieties constitutes the right strategy.

Background: Maize is the most important cereal and most widely cultivated staple that plays a key role in the food security of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Although some countries have achieved significant gains in maize productivity, the SSA average yields are far below what could be obtained with improved cultivars under good crop management. Low cultivar turnover is one among many contributing factors to low maize yields in SSA. At present, there is a critical knowledge gap on the identity, number, and age of maize cultivars currently grown by smallholder farmers on the continent., Results: This study revealed that nearly 500 maize cultivars were grown in 13 African countries surveyed in the 2013/2014 main crop season. Sixty-nine percent of the cultivars each occupied <1% of the total maize area; only two cultivars occupied >40% and four occupied >30% area. Approximately 32% of all the cultivars were hybrids, 23% were improved open-pollinated varieties (OPVs), and 46% were locals. Eastern Africa (EA) and southern Africa (SA) accounted for about 43 and 38%, respectively, of all the cultivars reported, whereas West Africa's (WA) share was 19%. The average area planted to modern cultivars in the surveyed areas was estimated at 57%-with EA, SA, and WA estimates of 82, 55, and 36%, respectively; however, increased adoption was not necessarily always related to improved productivity, as the latter depends on many additional factors. Each household planted an average of 1.781 cultivars (range 1-8). The overall weighted average age of the cultivars was 15 years, with hybrids and OPVs being 13 and 18 years, respectively., Conclusions: Maize variety turnover in SSA is slower than what is practiced in the USA and other world regions such as Latin America and Asia. The substantial variations among regions and countries in all parameters measured suggest a tailored approach to mitigation interventions. Findings of this current study pave the way for replacing the old cultivars with more recent releases that are tolerant or resistant to multiple stresses and are more resilient., (© 2017 Sellgren KL et al.)