Trends in and Determinants of Fertilizer Use in Amhara Region

Imbalance between the population growth rate and the agricultural production growth rate is one of the pronounced national problems in Ethiopia. In order to meet the food requirements of the growing population, food grains and other agricultural production have to be increased. The immediate available means to attain the national goal of food self-sufficiency is improving productivity by using improved technologies. Fertilizer is to one of the major productivity enhancing inputs. Therefore, the major concern of this study is empirically analyzing the trend of fertilizer use and factors determining fertilizer use by smallholder farmers in Gozamin Woreda, East Gojjam zone. The data used for this study were taken by undertaking a survey data (Primary Data). The data were collected with the help of DA's and Ambassel sales workers. The study woreda is one of the high consumers of fertilizer in the zone and 5 kebeles were selected by a two stage sampling technique.