1. Introduction
Rainfed agriculture provides over 95 percent of Africa’s food, yet only 5 percent of irrigation supports it [
1,
2]. In Sub-Saharan Africa, rainfed farming covers about 97 percent of cropland, making it highly vulnerable to climate change due to its fragile environment, economic dependence, and low adaptive capacity [
3,
4,
5,
6]. Africa has experienced a rapid temperature increase of 0.5 degrees Celsius per century, exceeding the global average [
7,
8], with rainfall patterns becoming increasingly unpredictable [
9]. Climate change has adversely affected agricultural yields and food security in Africa [
10,
11,
12].
Ethiopia’s economy heavily relies on agriculture, contributing around 42–45 percent to the GDP, driving 90 percent of exports, and employing over 80 percent of the population [
13,
14]. However, this sector is highly vulnerable to climate-related shocks, with rising temperatures and erratic rainfall patterns threatening land productivity and household food security [
14,
15,
16,
17,
18,
19,
20]. Extreme weather events also negatively impact land suitability for crop production [
21,
22]. The World Bank estimates that land degradation costs Ethiopia approximately 2 to 3 percent of its agricultural GDP annually [
23].
Despite its high potential for economic growth in Ethiopia, agriculture requires transformation to address the problems of land degradation and low productivity caused by climate change. Therefore, it is crucial to provide guidance for agricultural management in the face of climate change [
24,
25,
26,
27]. Given these considerations, the Ethiopian government recently unveiled a vision for establishing a climate-resilient green economy by 2025 [
28]. Climate-smart agriculture is an approach for steering agricultural management in a changing climate [
27]. Climate-smart agriculture is a new concept developed to address climate-related risks, promoting sustainable land productivity and food security, enhancing ecosystem resilience, and reducing greenhouse gas source activities [
29,
30,
31]. For FAO [
31], climate-smart agriculture is neither a new agricultural system nor a set of practices, but rather a new approach for guidance in transforming agriculture to address food insecurity and climate change challenges. This involves addressing social, economic, and environmental factors central to transforming agriculture, aiming to enhance productivity and resilience for food security, while also mitigating risks associated with climate change [
26,
32].
Climate-smart agriculture practices are generally highly knowledge-intensive and site-specific [
27,
33], making them essential to address food security and land productivity challenges in the changing climate. The effectiveness of CSA practices is determined by the context in which they are applied [
34]. Thus, climate-smart agriculture is a pathway towards sustainable development and food security and is built on three pillars: increasing agricultural productivity (crops, livestock, and fisheries) and income; enhancing the resilience or adaptation of livelihoods and ecosystems towards climate extremes; and reducing and removing GHG emissions from the atmosphere [
31]. An agricultural technique or practice contributing to these pillars’ achievements can be considered climate-smart [
35]. Ethiopian smallholder farmers have implemented several CSA practices, primarily to boost their farmland productivity and crop production [
20,
36]. However, due to differences in socioeconomic, plot, institutional, and social factors, the implementation of CSA practices varied among smallholder farmers in most developing countries including Ethiopia [
37]. CSA practices are highly context-dependent, and evidence-based interventions are needed [
38].
The empirical evidence revealed that CSA practices, alone or in combination, provide greater net benefits than business-as-usual practices [
39,
40,
41,
42,
43,
44,
45,
46]. As an example, Tadesse et al. [
44] demonstrated that implementing climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices resulted in crop yields that were 30–40% higher compared to conventional practices. Additionally, the total carbon stored at a soil depth of 1 m was three- to seven-fold higher with CSA practices than with conventional methods. Similarly, Asrat and Simane [
39] revealed that farmers who apply CSA practices experienced higher productivity by 22.2% compared to those who were under conventional practices.
Despite its novel benefits, CSA practices in Ethiopia remain low and uneven among smallholder farmers [
25,
47,
48,
49,
50]. Several studies revealed that households’ asset bases such as social, natural, and physical capital, as well as institutional factors, influence choices and adoptions of CSA practices in Ethiopia [
40,
51,
52,
53,
54,
55,
56,
57,
58,
59]. Nevertheless, the impact of these factors typically varies depending on the specific context, including the location and the technologies being evaluated [
60].
Most of the previous studies in Ethiopia have focused mainly on the adoption of single technologies by employing a binary choice model between adopters and non-adopters and the analysis of factors that affect the adoption. Many recent studies have highlighted that farmers have the option to adopt various combinations of technologies, which may either supplement or complement each other, to address multiple climate-related risks, such as soil moisture stress, soil fertility loss, pest infestations, drought, and floods [
51,
59,
61,
62,
63]. Geographically, most of the earlier studies were delimited to the south and northwest of Ethiopia. For instance, Ewunetu et al. [
60], Nigussie et al. [
62], and Tekelewold et al. [
58] focused on the upper Blue Nile River basin, while the rest, Bedeke et al. [
52] on the Wolaita administrative zone and Negera et al. [
61], also studied the Bale eco-region. Though these studies provide crucial information on a variety of CSA interventions in the wet and moist parts of the country, given the broader variation topography, micro-climate, and socio-economic factors, the available literature do not provide a full perspective of the practice and adoption of CSA. Particularly, empirical evidence is scant in northern Ethiopia, where frequent drought and food insecurity problems are prevalent. Ethiopian agriculture exhibits diversity across climatic zones, crop production systems, and socioeconomic conditions [
25]. Therefore, it is essential to carefully select suitable combinations of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) interventions tailored to specific geographical scales and livelihood requirements.
Farmers in northern Ethiopia including the North Wello administrative zone are known to have experienced the worst famine in history due to climate change-related risks. To overcome this problem, various modern agricultural technologies (improved crop varieties, minimum tillage, agroforestry, crop diversification, rainwater harvesting, organic fertilizer, inorganic fertilizer, and small-scale irrigation) have been introduced to farmers with the support of the government and non-government institutions. However, not all farmers are using these technologies as much as they should. The question of why smallholder farmers in this area do not apply these technologies to the required extent is not yet known. Hence, our study seeks to fill this void in the literature by systematically examining the factors influencing the adoption of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) technologies through a comprehensive multivariate choice framework. The results of this analysis aim to provide policymakers with valuable insights into the decision-making process of smallholder farmers regarding technology adoption, facilitating the design and implementation of targeted policy measures and interventions to promote the wider uptake of CSA technologies.
4. Discussion
The purpose of this study was to look into the interdependence of various CSA practices and the factors influencing farmers’ decisions to implement those practices among smallholder farmers in the study area. The findings indicate a robust complementarity among the CSA practices examined in the study. The interrelation among these practices suggests significant policy implications; a policy alteration affecting one practice may trigger spillover effects on the adoption of others.
The most interesting finding was that multiple CSA practices showed a positive correlation, which indicates farmers implemented a combination of CSA practices on a single farm to mitigate multifaceted climate-related risks such as moisture stress, soil erosion, and pests. The results show that strong correlations were found between rainwater harvesting and agroforestry practices. In the study area, the effectiveness of cultivating trees that can be woody perennials integrated with crops is determined by the availability of moisture. As a result, intentional rainwater collection as a reservoir of moisture in storage like broad beds in a catchment and physical instruments like geomembranes may be required. This finding is supported by a study by Teshome et al. [
79], which found that agroforestry increases crop productivity while decreasing soil erosion [
74], which is an important approach for in situ water conservation practices. Evidence also showed that agroforestry with water harvesting had a more significant positive effect on soil nitrogen stocks than other crop management systems [
97], so combining both could synergize.
Another important finding was the strong positive correlation between agroforestry and crop diversification practices. Farmers commonly use crop diversification to increase farm income and the agricultural system’s resilience to weather variability-related problems [
58,
98]. Agroforestry has been widely used as an alternative income source, while improving the adaptive capacity of the livelihood system to climate change-related risks [
70]. As a result of the mutual benefits of increasing crop productivity and soil quality, the two CSA practices demonstrated positive and significant correlations.
In the study area, there was also a strong complementarity between minimum tillage or zero tillage and small-scale irrigation practices. As a result, in small-scale irrigation practices, farmers frequently used perennial crops that do not require frequent plows, allowing crop residue to remain on the ground until the following irrigation season. Empirical evidence showed that farmers who practiced small-scale irrigation could grow crops more than once a year, ensuring increased and stable production, income, and consumption and improving their food security [
77,
78]. During the field survey, we observed that soil disturbance was reduced, and the plow was avoided on irrigated farmlands, which play a vital role in soil fertility and structure. The most interesting finding was a correlation between improved crop variety and crop diversification. This implies that farmers who have used different improved crop varieties in one crop season could also have used crop diversification on their farm plots [
14]. The positive correlation observed among these practices supports the notion that farmers commonly adopt a blend of CSA technologies.
A surprising observation emerged, revealing a positive association between age and the degree of CSA adoption. The positive link between age with the intensity of adopted CSA practices implies that a household head with a higher age was more likely to intensify CSA technology adoption. Key informant interview data backed up those model results, as older farmers used various methods to increase the productivity of their land, implying that older people are more likely to have relatively large farm sizes, stronger ties to agriculture, and more agricultural experience. However, because young people frequently believe they do not have enough land, they frequently leave their farms and engage in off-farm activities. As a result, the technologies mentioned in this study are less likely to be used. Consistent with this result, Atinkut and Mebrat [
99] noted that older farmers exhibited higher adoption rates, likely due to their increased familiarity and experience with weather forecasting. Tekelewold et al. [
58] revealed that the number of CSA practices adopted increases with the age of the household head.
The degree of land fragmentation also played a crucial role in influencing farmers’ decisions regarding the intensive adoption of CSA technology, as evidenced by a significantly positive coefficient for the number of farm plots. This finding contrasts with studies by Ewunetu et al. [
60] and Sileshi et al. [
100], which indicated that a high level of land fragmentation discourages the likelihood of adopting SLM technologies. However, Cholo et al. [
101] reported a positive impact of land fragmentation, aligning with the results observed here. They attributed this phenomenon to the increased farm diversity associated with land fragmentation, which leads to diversity in crops cultivated and production seasons, ultimately enhancing resilience to climate change risks.
Cropland leasing, or crop share, denotes an arrangement between the property owner (lessor) and the lessee outlining the terms of land usage for farming purposes. The study’s identification of a positive correlation between cropland leasing and the level of CSA technology adoption suggests that household heads who lease land are more inclined to implement various CSA technologies. This finding aligns with research conducted by Leonhardt et al. [
102], which highlighted that farm management effectiveness is enhanced by the personal relationships established between renters and landowners. However, Jones et al. [
103] convincingly reported that long-term or reliable tenure arrangements create a more conducive environment for adaptation. The result suggests that the tenants were better managed and invested more inputs for farm management practices, as they needed to boost crop productivity and production.
Having irrigable land promotes agricultural intensification due to the strong commitment of different actors, like extension experts and political actors, to the intensification of boosting crop income and productivity. Smallholder farmers who needed credit but could not access it were negatively associated with the intensity of CSA practices, suggesting that financial constraints limit the number of agricultural technologies they can adopt. The result is consistent with Mutyasira et al. [
104] and Teklewold et al. [
58], who showed that farmers who accessed agricultural credits increased the probability of adopting more than two sustainable agricultural practices. Media access and intensity of CSA practices were shown positive correlations, implying that access to information through media increases the use of more than two CSA practices. This could be because most agricultural technologies are advertised on local FM radio stations.
The decisions to use crop diversification and minimum or zero tillage were gender-sensitive. The result revealed that males were more likely to implement crop diversification and less likely to use a minimum or reduced tillage in at least one of their farm plots. Parallel to this, a study conducted by Deressa and Hassan [
87], Beyene et al. [
89], and Kassie et al. [
105] also found that male-headed households are more likely to apply crop diversification and plant trees. This is probably due to labor constraints and the cultural taboo against women plowing in Ethiopia [
105]. Asfaw and Neka [
106] show that women in Ethiopia, which is also in the study area, are involved in taking care of their children, preparing food, and other related tasks at home. The negative coefficient on the decision to use minimum tillage was probably because the male household heads were more likely to practice over-cultivation. The evidence from key informant interviews also shows that overcultivation was not practiced on farmland owned by women-headed households in the study area. This is because women take care of their children, prepare food, and complete other related tasks at home [
106]. Hence, the previous empirical evidence supported the current result that women’s decision on using land for CSA practices was limited [
88].
The positive link of the age of household head on the adoption of crop diversification, rainwater harvesting, and agroforestry practices is related to better farm experiences and land ownership. In favor of farm experience, Asrat and Simane [
39] suggested that farmers with long farm experience are well-aware of climate change and the options to adapt to climate change risks. This finding is consistent with that of other research by Amsalu and De Graaff [
107] and Deressa and Hassan [
87], which found that as a farmer’s age increases, the likelihood of adopting soil and water conservation and changing crop varieties increases.
The educational level of the household head had a positive influence on the decisions to adopt improved crop varieties, organic fertilizers, rainwater harvesting, and inorganic fertilizers in at least one of their plots. This may be because of the need for knowledge-oriented processes for implementing agricultural technologies. The findings indicating a direct relationship between the educational attainment of farmers and the adoption of CSA technology align with earlier research [
17,
40,
47,
94], implying that individuals with higher levels of education are better equipped to recognize climate change threats, consider adaptation strategies, and exhibit greater openness to novel ideas and technological advancements.
The unanticipated finding was that family size negatively influences the decision to implement irrigation practices. It was hypothesized that irrigation practices are labor intensive and that family size has a positive effect on irrigation practices as a source of human labor. However, the information obtained from the FGD participants and key informant interviews revealed that irrigation practices are a capital-intensive agricultural activity, but we have no other capital sources other than crop income. Unfortunately, the revenue generated from crop sales was inadequate to adequately provide for the children’s nutritional needs. This outcome echoes the conclusions drawn by Amsalu and De Graaff [
107] and Asfaw et al. [
17], who observed that larger households incur greater expenses in meeting their basic needs, thereby reducing the likelihood of investing in land-augmented technologies.
The influence of social capital on the decisions to use crop diversification and irrigation practices was positive. This result confirms the previous study by Kassie et al. [
91], which reported social network variables to show that farmers who organized in groups were more likely to adopt crop diversification in Ethiopia. The information obtained from key informant interviews shows that irrigation practice is not just an individual farmer’s decision to use irrigation but requires a team decision and participation. Therefore, farmers’ associations and organizations play an important role in irrigation development. The result was also similar to the study by Adela et al. [
75], which reported that access to networks through local organizations significantly affected the farmers’ decision to irrigate.
This study’s findings indicate the positive influences of livestock assets (TLU) on the decisions to adopt agroforestry, the applications of inorganic fertilizers, and rainwater harvesting. This implies that livestock size is frequently used as an indicator of an asset in rural households, and this could imply that a household with a more extensive asset base is more likely to use farm technology because they may be able and willing to bear more risk than their counterparts and may have preferential access [
105]. As a result, TLU positively impacted the adoption of inorganic fertilizer, rainwater harvesting, and agroforestry, indicating the ability to purchase inputs and materials to cope with the increased risk [
58]. This finding was consistent with the findings of Kassie et al. [
105], Zeleke and Aberra [
108], Balew et al. [
94], and Kassie et al. [
105], who found that livestock ownership has a significant and positive impact on the adoption of agricultural technologies such as chemical fertilizer.
Farm size was found to positively influence the decision to adopt agroforestry and inorganic fertilizers. The positive result of agroforestry also conforms to the result found by Beyene et al. [
109] and Tafere and Nigussie [
110], who reported that land size has a significant positive effect on the probability of adopting agroforestry. Household heads to larger farm sizes preferred using agroforestry practices. The positive correlation between large farm size and agroforestry is most likely since agroforestry takes up proportionally more space on small plots. Similarly, Yirga and Hassen [
111], Zeleke and Aberra [
108], and Pender and Gebremedhin [
92] found a positive and significant relationship between farm size and fertilizer use in Ethiopia. This implies that larger farm sizes are more likely to use farm inputs. A possible justification is that a larger farm size increases farm investment by increasing the asset base, making it possible to purchase inorganic fertilizers.
Farm plots with irrigable potential, on the other hand, facilitated decisions to adopt improved crop variety, crop diversification, irrigation application, and minimum or reduced tillage practices. The qualitative sources stated that a household head with irrigable land has a better opportunity to receive training on various agricultural technologies and access to credit services. Therefore, a farm household head who had irrigable land was more likely to use various agricultural technologies on their farm plot through irrigation than others who had not. Credit services were also found to be very instrumental in constraining the practices of irrigation activities. Empirical evidence shows that farmers who have access to credit services are more likely to purchase agricultural inputs [
90]. This finding is also in line with that of Deressa and Hassan [
87], who discovered that having access to credit enhances the likelihood of choosing conservation agriculture, crop calendar, and irrigation strategies.
A household that had fragmented farmlands was more likely to practice rainwater harvesting, minimum or reduced tillage, and inorganic (chemical) fertilizers. According to the information obtained from key informant interviews and FGDs, a fragmented farm plot increases farm diversity (including soil type and the fertility of farm plots), resulting in a diversity of crops grown and production seasons, thereby improving food security. Studies show that fragmented land with different soil types, slopes, and altitude increases farm diversity, leading to crop diversification and production seasons [
101,
112].
The farm plot with a gentle and moderate slope positively influenced minimum or reduced tillage practice. This finding is similar to the result of Marenya et al. [
113] and Teklewold et al. [
58], who confirmed that farmers who perceived a gentle and moderate slope were more likely to use a minimum or reduced tillage. The steep slope of land had positively associated with the decision to use improved crop variety, rainwater harvesting, and inorganic fertilizer. This result confirmed the findings of several previous studies in Ethiopia: Kassie et al. [
105], Beyene et al. [
109], and Amsalu and De Graaff [
107], which reported that adopting land management practices is less likely on flat to moderate slope plots. This implies that households in hilly or rugged land are more likely to adopt adaptive strategies.
Land rent for crop share was linked to improved crop variety, organic fertilizer and irrigation practices, agroforestry, rainwater harvesting, and inorganic (chemical) fertilizers, implying that the household head who shared farmland with others was more likely to intensify CSA technologies. Farmland rent from other farmers had a negative and significant relationship with the decision to use inorganic fertilizers. When renting land to another farmer, renting land to tenants is based primarily on their ability to use technology and their past farm care history. Therefore, this leasing requirement will force tenant farmers to use a variety of technologies to acquire leased land in the future.
Far from the expectations, the distance of farmland from home positively influences the decisions to use improved crop varieties, crop diversification, and inorganic fertilizer application. As we observed in field observation during the data collection, their irrigated farms were far from home, but farmers use different technologies in irrigated agriculture. This implies that the distance of the farmland to the home does not limit the decision to use agricultural technology; instead, the net benefit of the CSA technologies, once they are implemented, would influence the farmer’s decision to adopt CSA technologies. In line with this finding, previous studies reported that the influence of farm income on the decision to adopt different farm management practices was positive and significant [
87]. This result is also supported by Kassie et al. [
105], who found that the distance of plots from home positively and significantly influences the adoption of conservation tillage and chemical fertilizer. Plots near the homestead may be more fertile than plots further away because homestead plots may benefit from the addition of manure, compost, and other crop residue materials.
The distance of the home to the nearest market negatively influences the decisions to adopt improved crop varieties, inorganic (chemical) fertilizers, and organic fertilizers. Several climate change adaptation studies [
58,
114,
115,
116] have discovered a negative relationship between home distance to the nearest market, extension service office, and overall climate change adaptation strategies.
Access to information plays a pivotal role in enhancing climate change adaptation efforts by enabling the transportation of inputs and outputs, acquiring timely market updates, and accessing relevant information regarding products and evolving climatic conditions [
58]. In this context, a household head who has access to media (radio) was more likely to decide to practice agroforestry and rainwater harvesting. The outcome suggests that utilizing FM radio for information dissemination correlates with a rise in the adoption of rainwater harvesting and agroforestry practices. The reason seems to be that since the area is drought-prone, rainwater harvesting practices and agroforestry are promoted in the local media.
Another crucial institutional aspect impacting decisions to adopt CSA technologies is the engagement with development agents (DAs). The result shows that frequent extension contact with farm household heads increases the probability of increasing the practice of minimum or reduced tillage, but it is inversely associated with inorganic fertilizers. The positive influence of extension contact on minimum tillage is consistent with the findings of Saguye [
117], Moges and Taye [
115], Tesfahun and Chawla [
118], and Destaw and Fenta [
119], who reported that the frequency of extension contact significantly and positively affects the adoption of land management practices. The inverse relationship between extension contact and chemical fertilizer could be attributed to the blanket recommendation against chemical fertilizers [
105]. Unreliable moisture is a common problem in this study area, so farmers frequently resist applying chemical fertilizers.
Farmers who received agronomic and climate-related information were more likely to use improved crop varieties and organic fertilizers, but it had a negative relationship with inorganic fertilizers. This result is similar to the findings of Deressa and Hassen [
87], Zeleke and Aberra [
108], Kassie et al. [
91], Marie et al. [
57], and Mihiretu et al. [
116], who found that access to climate information is a significant adoption determinant of climate change adaptation strategies. This result implies that a household with access to climate-related information is also more likely to have agricultural technology on their farmland.
5. Conclusions of the Study
This study aimed to look at the factors that influence farm household head decisions to implement different climate-smart agriculture (CSA) technologies in the North Wello Zone, taking into account household and plot-level characteristics using multivariate and ordered probit models. Crop diversification, improved crop varieties, inorganic fertilizers, organic fertilizers such as manure and compost, agroforestry, irrigation, minimum or reduced tillage, and rainwater harvesting were all considered. The results show that inorganic fertilizers and improved crop varieties are less common in lowland agroecology, whereas it is more common in highland and midland agroecology. Rainwater harvesting and agroforestry practices appear to be well-suited for overcoming the critical constraints of low rainfall patterns and warmer climatic conditions in lowland agroecology.
Multivariate probit regression (MVP) results show a strong complementarity among CSA practices. The highest complementarity was observed between rainwater harvesting and agroforestry, agroforestry and crop diversifications, minimum tillage and irrigation, crop diversification, and improved crop variety. This implies that the practice of rainwater harvesting may positively influence the practice of agroforestry and vice versa. The factors that exhibit a positive correlation with a higher probability of adopting at least one CSA technology encompass age, level of education, participation in local organizations, farm size, total livestock units (TLU), ownership of irrigable land, number of plots, steepness of slope, distance of farm, and access to local media outlets.
Meanwhile, lack of credit access, family size, the distance of home to extension services, and the nearest market were negatively associated with adopting all CSA technologies. Others, including gender, moderate and gentle slope of the plot, sharing farm plot, and climate-related information, had a mixed effect on the decision to adopt CSA technology. The probability of a household adopting multiple CSA technologies was higher for elderly household heads, a higher number of plots, leasing farmland from others, more significant irrigable land, and radio ownership. Lack of credit access was associated with a decreased likelihood of adopting multiple CSA technologies