Two-fold increase in varietal adoption in seven years – a chickpea tale from Ethiopia

Adoption of improved chickpea varieties increased more than two-fold in seven years, shows data from more than 600 households in Ethiopia. “In just seven years, the percentage of households growing the new varieties rose from 30% to 80%. Improved chickpea varieties are assumed to be a key pro-poor and environmentally friendly technology,” state the authors of the study ‘A recipe for success? Learning from the rapid adoption of improved chickpea varieties in Ethiopia’.

The authors, whose study was published in the ‘International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability’ suggest that the case of improved chickpea adoption in Ethiopia demonstrates how new technologies can be made acceptable to the smallholder farmer.

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