Abstract:
Information access among smallholder farmers is very important as it keeps farmers aware of
what is happening in their work area and make decisions. The importance of information for
wheat producers in Ethiopia cannot be undermined since it helps them make the right decisions
about their farming production. The main objectives of this study was to assess the smallholder
wheat producers’ access to agricultural information and to examine factors that contribute to
accessing information by smallholder wheat producers in the study area. For this study
multistage sampling techniques were employed. First, Sululta district was selected purposively
for its wheat production potential. Second, four kebeles were selected using simple random
sampling out of 23 kebeles and finally, 296 smallholder wheat producers were selected
systematic random sampling. Both primary and secondary data types were used to conduct this
study. Primary data were collected from sampled households through intervies schedule, key
informant interview, and focus group discussions and secondary data were collected from the
sululta district offices, publucations and unpubications. Data were analyzed using descriptive
statistics, inferential statistics and ordered logit model. Descriptives Statistics such as
percentage, mean, standard deviation, and inferential such as one-way ANOVA test, chi-square
test, and spearman’s correlation. The study results showed that 30.7%, 50.7%, and 18.6% the
of respondents were in the low, medium and high access category, respectively. The ordered
logit model output also shows that seven variables such as gender, annual income, social
participation, access to market, distance from the market, extension contact and media
exposure were statistically significantly influence information access among smallholder wheat
producers in the study area. The study's findings suggest that interventions are needed to
improve access to information on wheat production packages, particularly for those with low
access. Therefore, the Sululta district Agricultural office should developing a platform that
disseminates agricultural information on wheat production packages for smallholder wheat
producers in the study area.
