Faba bean is a high-value crop that fetches high income to farmers. Besides, it is an important rotation crop which farmers are using to restore the fertility of their plots (Negash et al., 2015). It is also the most important protein source for the rural people and used to make various traditional dishes in Ethiopia (Goa and Kambata, 2017). Similarly, in the southern zone of Tigray, particularly in Enda Mehoni district faba bean is the dominantly grown crop next to wheat and barley. In the area, the crop is widely used for food in different forms like sprouted bean and green pod alone and stews (whot) with other mixtures. In addition, farmers commonly used faba bean as crop rotation with cereal crops like wheat and barley for soil fertility improvement as well as disease and insect pest break. Accordingly, different efforts were made by the governmental and non-governmental organization (Office of Agriculture and Rural Development of the district, Agricultural Research Centers, Universities, and NGOs) to promote improved faba bean varieties in Southern Tigray in general and Enda Mehoni district in particular as to the Southern Zone Development Corridor Office report (SZDCO, 2016).

However, despite the efforts made to introduce and promote the improved faba bean varieties in the study district, many smallholder farmers still used local cultivars. Empirical evidences on technology adoption in Ethiopia and elsewhere in the world reported that the decision of farmers’ adoption of a given technology is influenced by different factors across space and time. For example; Letaa et al. (2009) in Tanzania, found out that the likelihood of improved beans adoption was positively influenced by wealth index and possession of ICT (like radio, television, and mobile) whereas negatively influenced by distance to market of the farmers. Abdelaziz and Ishitag (2013), in Sudan also reported  that households that participated in field days have a higher probability of adoption of beans than those that did not participate. Moreover, In Ethiopia Bale highlands, Zenaye (2016), reported that adoption of improved food legume varieties significantly influenced by age square in year, livestock holding, membership in farmers cooperatives, frequency of contact with research centers, distance from the main market, participation in off-farm activity and district dummies of household head are some of the few empirical evidences related to our topic of interest.

Yet, to the researchers’ knowledge there are inadequate evidences on factors that facilitate and or hinder adoption of improved faba bean varieties in the district. As indicated in Table 1, thirteen explanatory variables were expressed as the most important variables that influence the adoption decision of faba bean varieties by smallholder farmers in Enda-Mehoni district. Therefore, this study was initiated to assess the determinants of adoption of improved faba bean varieties in which it can be used as springboard for sustainable faba bean adoption and initiated other researchers to conduct their study in a different perspective of the commodity.

Descriptive analysis results of the explanatory variables

The descriptive analysis showed that the mean age of sampled respondents was 42.3 years. This implies that the mean age of the respondents was at productive age. The  average household size in man equivalent was 4.54; whereas, the average educational background of the respondents was 3.44 years of schooling. The inferential statistics (t-test) shows that there is no significant difference between adopter and non-adopter categories related to age of the household, family size and educational level of the household head (Table 2). On the other hand, the mean cultivable land holding size of adopter and non-adopter was 0.79 and 0.65 ha respectively whereas, the overall respondent average land holding size was 0.69 ha per household. This indicated that the cultivable land size of the respondents was smaller than national average which is 1.14 ha per household (CSA, 2015). However, the result of the analysis shows that the cultivable land size of the adopters was higher than the non-adopters. The t-test analysis result shows a significant difference between the two categories at 5% significance level.

Following Storck et al. (1991), types and heads of livestock owned by the sample households was converted into Tropical Livestock Unit (TLU), so as to facilitate comparison among the households. The average livestock holding of the adopter and non-adopter was also 3.90 and 3.13 TLU, respectively. The t-value shows that there was significance livestock holding mean difference between respondents in both categories at less than 5% significance level. Moreover, the average annual farm income received by the respondents in the district was 9021 ETB per household per year. The income received by the adopters and non-adopter category was 12676 and 7279 ETB respectively, per year. The annual income of adopters was much higher than the non-adopters which means, they received more additional 5397 ETB than the non-adopters. Hence, the t-test analysis result revealed that annual income has a significant mean difference between both adoption categories at less than 1% significance level (Table 2).

As indicated in Table 3, of the randomly selected respondents’ the majority 151 households (67.71%) were non-adopters while the remaining 72 (32.29%) were adopters of improved faba bean varieties. The majority (71.25%) of respondents were male-headed, whereas the remaining were female-headed households. The percentage of  male-headed  household   in   the  adopter category was higher than in the non-adopter category whereas, the percentage of female-headed households in the adopter category was smaller than in the non-adopter category. The result from chi-square (χ2= 5.45) shows significant association between sex of household head and faba bean adoption at less than 5% level of significance. In recent years, owning personal mobile phone can have an important effect on receiving up to date information on day to day activity of the household from others with minimum cost. About 57.40% of the respondents owned mobile phones, whereas 61.1% were adopters while 55.63% were non-adopters household heads. The chi-square result (χ2=0.56) indicated that there was no significant association between owning mobile phone and adoption categories.

Farmers in their resident are involved in different social, economic and cultural organizations. The analysis result showed that 59.64% were member of farmers’ organization, while the remaining 40.36% had no involvement in farmers’ organization. The result of the chi-square analysis (χ2=0.797) shows that there was no significant association between farmers organization and adoption. Evidence from Table 3 reveals that the majority (77.58%) of the respondents have no access to credit in cash and or in kind. The percentage of households who have access to credit/cash is the same as the adopters and non-adopters. There is no significance association between adoption and access to credit/cash at (χ2=0.002).

The majority (64.57%) of the respondents (that is, 58.33% and 67.55% of adopter and non-adopter, respectively) did not participate in off/non-farm income activities, whereas; about 35.43% of the respondents (41.67% of adopters and 32.45% of non-adopters) participated in off/non-farm income activities. The chi-square result (χ2= 1.81) showed that there was no significant association between participation in off/non-farm activities and adoption (Table 3). About 40% of respondents attended field days, among which 47.22% and 37.75% were adopters and non-adopters respectively. However, about 59.2% did not participate in field days. The percentage of household who did not participate  in  field days was higher in  non-adopter  than adopters. The result of the chi-square analysis (χ2=1.81) shows that there was no significant association between file days participation and adoption. On the other hand, majority (59.2%) of respondents participated in training (that is, about 56.94 and 60.26% of the respondents were adopter and non-adopter, respectively). However, the remaining 43.06% of adopters and 39.79% of non-adopters were not attending training. The result of the chi-square analysis (χ2=0.223) shows that there was no significant association between training participation and adoption (Table 3).

Determinants of household decision to adopt improved faba bean varieties

The result in binary logit model (Table 4) indicated that the household’s decision to adopt improved faba bean varieties was significantly influenced by household residence, training participation and total annual income of the head of the households. Out of the three significant variables, total annual income and training participation positively influenced faba bean adoption while residence of household head influenced negatively faba bean varieties adoption.

Residence of the household head lived

The probability of improved faba bean  varieties  adoption was significantly and negatively affected by residence of the household lived at 1 and 10% significance level. The result of the model indicated that adoption of improved faba bean varieties decreased by 22.75, 13.37 and 12.58% respectively, as compared to base kebelle (Emba hasti). This implies that adoption of faba bean varieties from kebelle to kebelle has variation due to differences in soil types, rainfall pattern and elevation. The majority of the introduced improved faba beans varieties are long matured as compared to the local cultivars. This result is consistent with previous findings reported by Shiyani et al. (2002), in India, which shows adoption of improved chickpea varieties as significantly different from district to district. In addition, Zenaye (2016) from Ethiopia reported that district dummies of household head significantly affected food legume adoption.

Total annual farm income

Farm income of the household head has a positive significant effect on faba bean adoption. In this study, farm income refers to all income derived from agricultural sector (crop and livestock) excluding income derived from non-farm incomes. The result of the model indicated that the probability of faba bean varieties adoption increased by 64.40% as the income of the household head increased by 1 Ethiopian Birr. This implies that farmers with higher farm income are more likely to adopt improved faba bean varieties because farm income helps them to cover the required expenditures (on seed, fertilizer, chemicals and hiring labor etc.) of the new technology under consideration. The previous study by Letaa et al. (2009) also showed the occurrence of a significant positive correlation between agricultural wealth and adoption of common beans in Tanzania. Similarly, a study by Masresha et al. (2017) in Ethiopia shows a significant effect of agricultural income on white haricot beans adoption in East Shewa zone, Ethiopia.

Training participation

The result of the model shows that farmers’ attending training have a higher probability of adopting improved faba bean varieties than those who did not attend. The model indicated that adoption of improved faba bean varieties was increased by 1.34% as compared to households that did not participate in training. This implies that farmers that have the chance to participate in trainings can fill their gap of practical application (like time of planting, weeding, application of chemicals, harvesting, threshing and storage), and marketing that are provided to the farm households in farmers training centers by extension workers and other concerned  bodies. Previous studies by Mulugeta (2011) and Masresha et al. (2017) in Ethiopia reported that training had a positive significant influence on the status of adoption of white haricot beans variety. The study concluded that farmers with better training status have better information and confidence and hence, are likely to adopt haricot beans variety.

Faba bean contribution to households’ nutrition, income and food security is very high. In the study area, the crop is consumed in a variety of forms. The study examined the factors influencing improved faba bean varieties adoption and revealed that household’s residence, household farm income and training participation of household heads are responsible for increasing the probability of faba bean varieties adoption. Adoption decision was found to be a combination of economic, physical and institutional variables of the farmers. Hence the understanding of the significant factors that lead farmers to adopt improved faba bean is imperative in policy design and implementation for further improved technology adoption in the district. In addition, it is recommended   that  concerned  governmental  and  non-governmental organizations be taken into consideration to provide appropriate training, improving the annual farm income and targeting domains of faba bean producing areas in order to promote the adoption of improved faba bean varieties in Enda Mehoni district.

The authors have not declared any conflict of interests.

The authors are grateful to agricultural experts of Enda Mehoni district, Southern Zone Development Corridor and development agents of the selected kebelles. The authors appreciate all individual participant farmers in the individual interview who contributed a lot to the conduct of the study. Special thanks go to International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry land Areas (ICARDA) Project for financial and technical supports. The effort made by the staff of Alamata Agricultural Research Center namely; Ykaalo Teklay, Birhanu Amare, Kidane Welde, Tsehaye Birhane, Muruts Legesse, Yemane Nega, Abadi Gidey and Fithanegest Alem who participated in the household survey is well acknowledged; along with all individuals who made an effort to materialize this study.