What factors are inducing or impeding the adoption of agricultural mechanization? Revisiting farm scale, overhead capital and spatial divergence

Abstract

Agricultural mechanization plays a key role in agricultural development and enhancing rural livelihoods, but adoption remains limited in much of Sub-Saharan Africa. This study analyses the farm power transition and inducing factors across diverse production systems. Our investigation differently explicates the mechanization index (proportion of activities mechanized) inclusive of the available technologies extending beyond the dichotomous adoption choices. It further examines adoption and mechanization intensity of the relatively most applied engine-powered individual mechanization practices. Devising a multistage sampling technique, the analysis relies on a cross-sectional survey and data from 818 households in Oromia, Southern Nation Nationalities and Peoples (SNNP), Amhara, and Tigray regions in Ethiopia. We applied a two-part fractional response and double hurdle models to determine factors ascribed to the adoption decision (farm power transition) and mechanization intensity. The functional forms of adoption of the bundle and individual machinery inputs are robust to various specification tests. The parameter estimates disclose that household labor, farm scale, and livestock assets have a positive association with adoption. Restricted access to overhead and institutional capital is impeding the adoption of mechanization. To make mechanization more inclusive, the study underscores the need for leveraging the farm power transition through the reinforcement of the spread of alternative hiring services, rural infrastructures, and demand-based land pooling schemes.