The rapid – but from a low base – uptake of agricultural mechanization in Ethiopia: Patterns, implications and challenges

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cg.authorship.typesCGIAR single centreen
cg.authorship.typesCGIAR and developing country instituteen
cg.contributor.crpPolicies, Institutions, and Markets
cg.contributor.donorEuropean Unionen
cg.contributor.donorUnited States Agency for International Developmenten
cg.contributor.donorDepartment for International Development, United Kingdomen
cg.coverage.countryEthiopia
cg.coverage.iso3166-alpha2ET
cg.coverage.regionEastern Africa
cg.coverage.regionAfrica
cg.coverage.regionSub-Saharan Africa
cg.creator.identifierGuush Berhane: 0000-0002-1947-9483
cg.creator.identifierBart Minten: 0000-0002-2183-1845
cg.identifier.projectIFPRI - Development Strategy and Governance Division
cg.identifier.projectIFPRI - Ethiopia Strategy Support Program
cg.identifier.publicationRankNot ranked
cg.number105en
cg.placeWashington, DCen
cg.placeAddis Ababa, Ethiopiaen
cg.reviewStatusInternal Reviewen
dc.contributor.authorBerhane, Guushen
dc.contributor.authorDereje, Mekdimen
dc.contributor.authorMinten, Barten
dc.contributor.authorTamru, Seneshawen
dc.date.accessioned2024-06-21T09:24:47Zen
dc.date.available2024-06-21T09:24:47Zen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/148470
dc.titleThe rapid – but from a low base – uptake of agricultural mechanization in Ethiopia: Patterns, implications and challengesen
dcterms.abstractThe uptake of agricultural mechanization in Ethiopia is low with less than one percent of agricultural plots plowed with a tractor. However, in recent years the uptake of agricultural machinery has accelerated. We note an impressive increase in imports of combine-harvesters and of tractors, seemingly associated with the increasing costs of agricultural labor and animal traction, substitutes for agricultural mechanization. We estimate that a quarter of the area in Ethiopia planted to wheat – the fourth most important cereal in the country – is currently harvested by combine-harvesters, and they are widely used in the major wheat growing zones in the southeast of the country in particular. Private mechanization service providers have rapidly emerged. Smallholders in these wheat growing zones rely heavily on agricultural machinery rental services for plowing, harrowing, or harvesting. We find that mechanization is associated with significantly lower labor use, and that the adoption of combine-harvesters – but not tractors – is significantly associated with higher yields, seemingly due to lower post-harvest losses. While further expansion of mechanization in the country is desired, given the environmental and financial cost of holding oxen and the higher yields linked with some forms of mechanization, it appears to be hampered by farm structures, particularly small farm sizes and consequent limits in scale; fragmented plots; crop diversity; physical constraints, such as presence of stones, steepness of fields, and soil types; and economic and financial constraints, including limited access to foreign exchange and credit and the still relatively low wages in less commercialized zones.en
dcterms.bibliographicCitationBerhane, Guush; Dereje, Mekdim; Minten, Bart; and Tamru, Seneshaw. 2017. The rapid – but from a low base – uptake of agricultural mechanization in Ethiopia: Patterns, implications and challenges. ESSP Working Paper 105. Washington, DC and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI). https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148470en
dcterms.extent33 pagesen
dcterms.isPartOfESSP Working Paperen
dcterms.issued2017
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.publisherInternational Food Policy Research Instituteen
dcterms.publisherEthiopian Development Research Instituteen
dcterms.replaceshttps://ebrary.ifpri.org/digital/collection/p15738coll2/id/131146en
dcterms.subjectsmallholdersen
dcterms.subjectagricultural developmenten
dcterms.subjectwheaten
dcterms.subjectmechanizationen
dcterms.typeWorking Paper

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