Impact of Farmers Training Centers Based Training on Major Crops Productivity and Households Welfare: the case of Gurage Zone, Central Ethiopia

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to identify the impact of Farmers Training Centers Based Training on Major Crops Productivity and Households Welfare in southern Ethiopia. To select the respondent households applied a multi-stage stratifying sampling method. First, 3 districts Were selected purposively. Then, 3 Rural Kebeles from Fully functional Farmers Training Centers and 2 Rural Kebeles from non-functional Farmers Training Centers Were randomly selected. In the third stage, a total of 360 sample household heads (151) modular training graduates and 209 non-graduates) were selected. The interview schedule, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews were data collection tools. The result indicates the frequency of extension contact and farmers Confidence in extension service significantly affects both trained and not trained farmer’s crop productivity. I find that trained farmers have 124.27% more net cereal crop income per cultivated land size as compared to the counterfactual scenario of non-trained. I find that it increases the consumption expenditure per adult equivalent of trained farmers by about 204.83% compared to the counterfactual scenario of non-trained. The constraint which is considered by the respondents as a first-rank and important constraint was the fence problem which accounts for 21.63% of the total respondents. Farmer training center-based modular training could be considered as a key pathway that contributes to the improvement of agricultural production and Welfare of the rural community. The output of this study will give concrete information on intervention strategies to enhance the role of FTC-based training intervention strategies to improve farmers’ livelihood in surrounding rural areas.