Determinants of Female Farmers Access to Agrarian Extension Services: A case study from Ethiopia

Abstract: This paper aims at investigating the determinants of female farmers access to Agrarian Extension Services in Ethiopia, where extension services represent a critical tool for the development of the agrarian sector. Despite the country’s efforts to develop a gender-responsive extension system, several bottlenecks are negatively driving down women’s access to these services. By reviewing previous works and employing the Ethiopian Socio-economic Survey from 2018-2019, this research collected a set of determinants that were then tested trough a logistic regression. In order to investigate their individual effect on female farmers access to Agrarian Extension Services. Among the eighteenth determinants tested, eight were shown to have significantly affected women’s access; respectively, the average of the years of female education and having individual or joint ownership rights over a parcel of land were found to have a significant negative effect on women’s access. Meanwhile, access to water service at the community level, use of chemical fertilizers, having access to a credit service, being among the decision-maker for what concerns land-related decisions, the frequency of participation among watershed activities and the cost of going with public transportation to the closest woreda town were found to have a positive significant effect on women’s access to agrarian extension services.