Farmers’ agricultural tractor preferences in Ethiopia: a choice experiment approach

Abstract Unless supported by agricultural mechanization, achieving sustainable development goals is generally challenging in sub-Saharan African countries, specifically so Ethiopia. Animal power the dominant mode for plowing, threshing, and transportation Ethiopia yet, at same time little effort was employed to assess subsistence farmer’s tractor demand study area. This conducted understand preferences of wheat producer farmers tractors 2017. A random sample 79 households participated either rental or purchase choice experiments. The descriptive statistics revealed that 42% respondents chose buy tractors, 43% preferred use services. parameter logit estimation result showed plowing-and-transporting were who design. They are also willing pay ETB 149,142 (USD 6516) transporting-only 218,253 9536) plowing-only 367,957 16,077) plowing-and-transport-only tractors. However, due exclusion high producers rent experiment, current price found be far from 99% confidence interval estimated price. government should promote encourage appropriate affordable through purchase. Conservative agriculture practiced as over-use may disrupt biodiversity natural biological process.