Determinants of training participation at farmers training centers in Northwest Ethiopia

ABSTRACT

This study assesses the determinants of farmers’ participation in training at Farmers’ Training Centres (FTCs) in Northwest Ethiopia. It employed a mixed-methods research approach. The binary logistic regression and thematic methods of analysis were used to analyse the quantitative and qualitative data, respectively. The study reveals that years of schooling, land and mobile ownership, access to farmer-to-farmer extension services, membership in the Kebele cabinet, and a fair competency level of development agents were significant determinants. This study adds psychological and institutional variables to the existing literature as determinants of participation in training. It also integrates the quantitative and qualitative data to triangulate and validate the findings obtained. The study recommends that capacity building, information and communication technology (ICT), and land tenure system are the main areas of policy intervention for the government and other stakeholders to act on to promote farmers’ participation further in agricultural training programs in Ethiopia.

KEYWORDS:

• Determinants
• training participation
• farmer training centres
• binary logit model
• Ethiopia

Acknowledgments

The authors want to acknowledge the enumerators who devoted their time and energy to collect the primary data by interviewing the sample household heads. We also owe thanks to the Woreda extension team leaders and training specialists who provided secondary data and oversaw the gathering of primary data. We are also appreciative of the research scholarship given to the first author by Debre Markos University and the Ethiopian Ministry of Education.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data corroborating the study’s findings will be available on request from the corresponding author.

Notes

1. ‘Kebele’ is the smallest administrative unit in Ethiopia.

2. ‘Woreda’ is the 4^th level administrative unit in Ethiopia.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.