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This examination aimed to survey the farmers' participation in watershed management and distinguish significant factors deciding the farmers' participation and cooperation in watershed management practices in the investigation territory. Descriptive statistics and econometric models were utilized for investigation purposes to meet the expressed targets. The sampled farmer families were classified low, medium, and highly dependent on their support score esteems the 4-8, 9-12, and 13-16 participation run separately. The farmers' participation in problem identification and decision making, planning and monitoring and evaluation is shallow in contrast with their participation in the execution level. The Ordered Logit Model outcome uncovered that among the 17 variables estimated to influence the farmers' participation in watershed management, 8 variables were measurably noteworthy with the speculated sign as determinants of farmers' participation in the watershed the executives. Consequently, the family size is positive and significantly influence the farmers' participation; dependency ratio negatively and significantly influences the farmers' participation; more dependency ratio diminishes time, work, and enthusiasm to partake in watershed management practices, education positive and fundamentally influence the farmers' participation, farm size is positive and significantly affect the farmers' participation, the distance of parcel of land from residence positive and altogether influence the farmers' participation, soil fertility positive and altogether influence the farmers' participation, extension contact positive and altogether influence the farmers' participation, farmers households who approach credit were found to have negative and fundamentally influence the farmers' participation.

This study aims to identify the determinants for the growth of Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Derash Woreda, Gidole Town. To achieve the “general and specific objectives”, this study was investigated external and internal factors affecting the growth of SMEs. This study was used a descriptive research design and a quantitative research approach. The primary data sources were collected from SMEs engaged in service, manufacturing, trade, construction, and urban agriculture. The sampling techniques used for this study are the stratified sampling technique. However, the sample size used for this study is 50 SMEs. For data analysis, multiple linear regression models were used. The finding for this study indicated that the external factors such as education, training, experience, and social network are positively or significant relationship with the growth of SMEs; on the other hand, the internal factors such as management capacity, marketing skill, accounting record-keeping, firm age and firm size are positively or significant relationship with the growth of SMEs. Hence, to increase the growth of SMEs, it is suggested that SMEs stockholders, SMEs owners, and government bodies improve the knowledge and awareness of SMEs related to external and internal factors. The concerned bodies to solve the problem provide access to finance, technology, skilled workforce, marketing and business communication and facilitating necessary infrastructure.

To make private investment more attractive, most African countries have liberalised the market and attempted to create enabling environment in recent decades. Like many African countries, Ethiopia took steps towards liberalising the market and the macroeconomic regime and introducing measures to improve the investment regulatory framework. This study analyses the determinants of private investment performance in Wolaita Sodo city. Data for the study were collected from 165 investors from different categories. Data was collected using primary and secondary sources; a Multi-stage sampling technique was used to meet with the study points. To attain the study’s stated objectives, different data analysis methods, i.e. descriptive analysis and econometric analysis, were used to identify the effect of independent variables on the dependent variable. Descriptive analysis percentages, graphs, charts, and tables were presented, affecting private investment. In logistic regression analysis, the variables positively related to the probability of investment are investment incentive, marital status, land, investment experience, labour, and credit facility. On the other hand, the variables negatively correlate with the probability of investment interest on the loan, age, sex, education, and inflation. From 11 explanatory variables, 5 of the variables: investment incentive, credit facility, interest on the loan, sex, and inflation have a significant effect on the private investment at the significance level at 1 per cent, 5 per cent, and 10 per cent.

This research examines the rural household resilience to food insecurity using cross-sectional data in four Kebeles of Damot Pulasa district of Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethio-pia. This research aimed to assess the current levels of rural household resilience to food insecurity and analyse the critical determinants of rural household resilience to food insecurity in the study area. A multi-stage sampling technique was employed to gener-ate data from 187 sampled household heads. Data were collected using the Key Inform-ant Interview, Focus Group Discussion, and interview schedule. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a household resilience index, and an econometric model. Categorical and continuous variables were analyzed using x2-test and one-way ANOVA, respectively. The dependent variable, Household resilience to Food Insecurity, was measured by Household Resilience Index using Principal Component Analysis re-sulting from five variables, i.e., Income, Food expenditure, Crop held in stock, Precau-tionary assets, and Investment in cash savings. The study employed 18 Independent variables. Moreover, after computing the descriptive statistics, the Ordered Probit Re-gression was used to identify the key determinants of household resilience to food inse-curity. The survey results revealed that 57.2% were Non-resilient, 18.2% were Moderate-ly Resilient, 15.0% Resilient, and 9.6% Highly Resilient. Ordered Probit Model estima-tion result showed family size, diversity of income source, livestock ownership, use of improved seed with fertilizer, access to credit service, and assistance received were the six significant explanatory variables and determinants of the household resilience to food insecurity at 95% CI or P

Rural farmers often look for credit facilities during the agricultural seasons and other constructive activities. However, most developing countries face the severe challenges of getting enough financial support through proper means. Providing low-cost, efficient credit services and recovering a high percentage of loans granted are the ideal aims in rural finance. On the other hand, low repayment performance discourages the lender from promoting and extending credit. Therefore, thoroughly investigating the various aspects of loan defaults is vital for policymakers and lending institutions. Therefore, this thesis was concerned with analyzing factors affecting the agriculture loan repayment performance of borrowers of agricultural lending institutions of the study area and the effect of credit risk on lending institutions’ financial performance. The study was based on secondary data from the District and Zonal Microfinance Institutions and Marketing and Cooperative development departments. Primary data were collected from 140 smallholder agriculture credit borrower farmers. The data were used to describe the respondents' socio-economic, demographic and attitudinal characteristics and institutional factors. T-test and chi-square were used to measure the potential power of continuous and discrete variables in differentiating non-defaulters and defaulters. The logit model was also used to identify variables that determine loan repayment performance. Of 16 explanatory variables, only five: household income, business development services made by the lending institutions, loan disbursement time (suitability of loan disbursement time), loan diversion status of borrowers and celebration of social ceremonies were statistically significant factors affecting repayment performance of agriculture loan of lending institutions. The partial marginal effect analysis shows that borrowers' loan diversion status is the most critical factor among the other five variables. Based on the findings, policy implications were drawn for improving loan repayment performance and sustainability of credit services and institutions in the study areas.

The research title was Rural Women’s participation in Non-farm Income generating activities because Non-farm activities contributed significantly to employment and income in rural areas. The study's general objective was to identify the level of rural women’s participation in Non-Farm income-generating activities. The specific objectives were to identify the current status of women’s participation and factors that affect women’s participation in Non-Farm Income Generating activities. This study took Damot Woyde Woreda, Wolaita Zone, Southern Nations and Nationalities region, Ethiopia. In order to undertake the study, total women households were a population of data to determine a sample; a random sampling method was used to select 96 sample respondents. After selection, a structured interview schedule was used to collect primary data and for further information, Key Informant Interviews and focus group discussion groups were selected for qualitative data. The study employed simple descriptive and inferential statistical analysis and an ordered logit model, and data were analyzed by SPSS 20 version. The dependent variable of the study was rural women’s participation. In addition, there were fifteen independent variables of the study, were age, education, family size, dependency ratio, household income, cooperative membership, livestock holding, land holding, access to market, access to road, training exposure, access to credit, government intervention, risk-taking behaviour and economic motivation. As a result, 61.5 % of the sampled respondents were under the low participation category, 30.2 % were under the medium-level of participation category, and 8.3 % were under the high participation category. In the study, 6 variables were continuous, and the rest 9 variables were categorical. In model analysis, 5 variables were significant, and the other 10 were insignificant. As a model result, the dependency ratio, household income, land holding size, and livestock holding had negative significance, except credit access was significantly positively related to women's participation. So the researcher has recommended that improving access determinant factors and giving attention to policy support for non-farm income-generating activities was very important.

The small-scale Irrigation Scheme is vital in assisting Ethiopia's sustainable agriculture development. Therefore, more small-scale irrigation schemes were developed in the country, including the Ella Small scale Irrigation Scheme, considering that irrigation is the apparent response to low agricultural productivity. This research aims to assess the current Irrigation scheme status of the farming households and investigate the factors affecting the farming households in utilizing the scheme. The selected sample size consists of both Irrigators and Non-irrigators farming households, including males and females. For the comparison, to identify the gender role and distribution of the resources equally at the Kebele level. The sample size was 100 household heads through a random sampling technique based on probability proportional to size. The researcher determined the sample size because of its representativeness at 10% of the total population. The data were both quantitative and qualitative. The quantitative data were collected by using a semi-structured interview schedule. In contrast, the qualitative data were collected using a checklist through Focus Group Discussion and Personal interviews with Key Informants. The PA was selected purposively by considering a small-scale irrigation scheme, relative accessibility, and a study area. The researcher knew well since it was one of the project areas for the researcher to work on. The secondary data was collected from different published and unpublished research works done by other researchers on similar or related topics and from stakeholders who directly or indirectly work on developing small-scale irrigation schemes and different records of the Government offices. Having collected data, it was analyzed in three statistical ways of data analysis; these were: Descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, frequency and percentage. In addition, inferential statistics were employed to measure the degree of significant association of independent (explanatory) variables with the dependent variable. Finally, the econometric model employed was the Binary Logit model to examine the utilization of Small-scale Irrigation by farming households and factors that affect households not effectively utilising the irrigation scheme under the study. The Binary Logit model results indicate the educational level of HHs, family size, landholding, livestock holding, frequency of extension contact, access to input supply, occupation of HHs and conflict over irrigation water utilization. Based on the above research findings that the following recommendations were suggested strengthening practical adult education, efficient utilization of labour of active family members, cultivation of high-value crops and vegetables that produces and harvests within a short duration, keeping their livestock from diseases and planting grasses for their forage along with the irrigated plot of the farm, frequent monitoring and evaluation of DAs at least twice a week, providing agricultural input at right cropping time, establishing agro-industries, strengthening Water Users Association and Conflict Resolution Committees.

The Livelihood Diversification Strategies are one of the sources of income-generating activities in Rural Development. The farmers should not solely depend on agriculture but must be encouraged to engage in Off-farm and Non-farm activities, which are allied agricultural activities. The thorough research was conducted in Boloso Sore District in Southern Ethiopia. The major objectives of this study were to identify the existing livelihood strategies adopted by rural households and assess factors that determine households’ decision to choose alternative livelihood strategies. For this study, primary data were collected from randomly selected 149 households. Due to severe land scarcity, high population pressure, and recurrent drought, farm households in the study area widely engage in and pursue diverse, productive economic activities as livelihood strategies. The carrying capacity of agriculture to attain food and livelihood security is extremely declining from time to time. Diversifying livelihood strategies at the current time has become a common phenomenon in the study area. Descriptive statistics were applied to characterize the sample households’ socioeconomic, demographic and institutional factors. The multinomial logistic regression model was applied to identify the factors determining the choices of rural household livelihood strategies on 15 explanatory variables. The rural households in the study area pursued different livelihood strategies such as on-farm alone, 63 (42.3%); on-farm + non-farm, 55 (36.9%); on-farm+ off-farm, 20 (13.4%); and on-farm+ non-farm + off-farm livelihood strategies, 11(7.4%). On-farm livelihood played a leading role by contributing 72% of the total income of the households, whereas Non-farm and Off-farm activities contributed 20% and 8% of the household incomes, respectively. A total of 15 explanatory variables were included in the empirical model, of which 11 were significant. These variables include age, livestock ownership, market proximity, training, total household income, credit use, dependency ratio, Landholding, number of oxen owned, Sex, and cooperative membership, which determines the significant choice of livelihood strategies. This study suggests that development interventions, policies, and supportive services should be designed to suit different groups of farmers' felt needs and circumstances.

Soil erosion must be reduced to a tolerable level to control soil fertility decline and sustainable agricultural development. Different SWC works have been done in many parts of Ethiopia. Still, the farmers' perception of soil erosion and their responses to soil and water conservation practices need investigation. Often contact between planners and stakeholders used to be minimal. The failure of conservation programs partly emerges from the fact that planners and implementing agencies ignore or fail to consider the socio-economic factors as critical determinants of the success or failure of conservation programs. Therefore, this study's objective was to identify what factors affect the adoption of physical soil and water conservation practices and examine farmers' perceptions of soil and water conservation practices. Both primary and secondary data were collected for this purpose. The primary data were collected from 108 proportionately and randomly selected sample households from 5 Kebeles in Kindo Koysha Woreda, while secondary data were from group discussions of different sources. A multinomial logit model was applied to identify the socio-demographic, Economic, Institutional, Psychological, and Physical factors that affect Soil and Water Conservation Practices' adoption. This study indicated that farmers' adoption of the Soil and Water Conservation decision was influenced more by socio-demographic, economic, institutional, and physical factors. The household head age, education levels, family size, and dependency ratio influenced socio-demographic factors; economic factors influenced farm size and household income. The slope category of the farm was of physical factor that influenced the adoption of soil water conservation practices. Of these significantly influenced variables, the dependency ratio was negatively affected, while the rest of the factors positively influenced the adoption of SWC practices. Based on the obtained result, the following recommendations were made: There should be a clear understanding of the socio-economic conditions of a given locality to undertake SWC activity; a closer relationship will need to be developed between land-use planners and soil conservationists; strengthening resettlement in unused areas; the way of farming culture has to be investigated before planning to undertake conservation activity of a given community; To implement SWC, exploring existing local resource and availability of farmland is vital because most farmers who have stones availability in their locality were replayed that they choose stone bunds to protect their farm.

Women’s Economic Empowerment helps to ensure gender equality and the well-being of nations. When women become economically empowered and get their source of income, they ensure the family's basic needs. This research study aimed to analyze women's economic Empowerment through microfinance in rural areas on Humbo Woreda. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to obtain a sample size of 138Women households. First, cross-sectional data were collected through a semi-structured interview schedule. Second, quantitative data were collected with the help of an Interview schedule from the sample size of 138 women households. Third, the qualitative data was collected by checklist from Focus Group Discussions and Key Informants interviews. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, economic empowerment index, and binary logit model. The index result showed that not-empowered women were 61.59% and empowered women were 38.4%; this indicated that women's economic empowerment status in the study area was low. The binary logit model result revealed that major factors determining women's Empowerment through microfinance in Humbo Woreda were:1 the education level of women, 2, experience in income generation activities, 3, membership experience in microfinance, 4, distance from microfinance institutions, 5, participation in training, 6, cumulative saving, 7, cumulative loan receive, 8, women working hours and 9, women’s perception towards loan risk the influenced women Empowerment through in microfinance positively and negatively at less than 1%, 5% and 10% probability level. Besides, the study also revealed that women are more disadvantaged in empowerment microfinance services. Therefore, it is recommended that existing programs and strategies be reviewed. New and appropriate policies and strategies should be designed to improve women's empowerment status in the study area. Specifically, priority programs should improve women’s education by focusing on formal and vocational schools, creating opportunities for women to earn income.