In Ethiopia, agriculture takes the leading role in the economy and the efficiency of agriculture remains essential for Ethiopia to eradicate extreme poverty. The country has registered steady increase in economic growth in recent years, but suffers from resource degradation, environmental pollution, low level of agricultural performance, and unemployment. One of the main challenges has been the use of conventional land use decision-making agriculture. Conventional land use decision making refers to the practice of non-objective land use decision-making acquired from experience established through generation, which does not practically allow spatial and temporal land use decision trade-offs. This paper reviews existing literature on uses of decision-making models in agricultural planning focusing on the potentials mathematical model-based decision making as compared to the conventional approach with a view to notice possible implications for Ethiopian context. Thus, with varying degrees of impact, flexibility, and complexity of use, any mathematical model-based land use decision making has greater potential to enhance the performance of agriculture in Ethiopia.

Keywords: Agriculture, Efficiency, Performance. Conventional Land Use Decision Making, Mathematical Model-based Land Use Decision Making.