Farmers’ perspectives on drivers of rice yield in the Fogera Plain of Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, rice productivity varies over locations. However, there is limited understanding about rice yield drivers for design appropriate policies and strategies to enhance rice productivity. This study focuses on assessing the patterns of rice yield and its drivers. Data were collected from 220 households and field measurements were made accordingly. Descriptive statistics, the Kruskal-Wallis test, and biplot were to assess yield groups, drivers ranking, and driver yield group association, respectively. Four yield groups were identified 2.1 (Y1) t ha−1, 3.0 (Y2) t ha−1, 4.1(Y3) t ha−1, and 5.2 (Y4) t ha−1. Water stress, low soil fertility, lack of draft animals, shortage of credit, pests, weak extension, and weeds were yield affecting drivers in Y1. Similarly, labor shortage, increase input price, credit, and weed was yield-limiting drivers in Y2 while flooding, poor marketing, and the lack of storage were the drivers in Y3. Poor seed system, post-harvest losses, lack of farm tools, price fluctuation, lack of storage, and poor marketing were drivers in Y4. This study showed that the major drivers that significantly affect yield varied among the yield groups. Perceived drivers of the different yield groups have a better understanding and prospect for strategic target policy and intervention support to minimize yield losses thereby increasing productivity.