Author(s)

B. Legesse

Abstract

Risk, risk information and eventual learning of smallholder farmers in eastern Ethiopia B. Legesse Alemaya University, Department of Agricultural Economics, P.O. Box 146, Alemaya, Ethiopia Abstract This article explores sources of risk information, determinants of access to it, its reliability and determinants of leatning in the farming systems of Eastern Ethiopia. Social learning and cultural theories are used to guide the investigation using a mixed methodology of quantitative analysis and qualitative interpretation of data from formal and informal surveys. Hypotheses that access information and learning and differ according to age, gender, education, religious faith and other characteristics of households are examined. Logit regression analyses are applied to test the hypotheses. Results of the informal survey showed that information is the key to judgment in the context of rural households. Results also show that the collection and use of early warning information is one of the on-farm ris

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