Adoption and impacts of conservation agriculture on smallholder farmers' livelihoods in the case of Arba Minch Zuria district of Southern Ethiopia

The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of conservation agriculture (CA) practice on farmers' livelihood status and examine factors influencing the adoption of CA practice in Arba Minch Zuria district of Southern Ethiopia. The logistic regression model result revealed that gender, education level, credit access, access to extension service, household size, marital status, income, and cooperating group membership were crucial factors in influencing the likelihood of farmers adopting conservation agriculture practices. Moreover, the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) result indicated that the return from maize grain productivity and farmers' annual income was comparatively higher in conservation agriculture practice than conventional agriculture practice. Thus, this study recommended promoting CA practice as a livelihood-enhancing technology in areas experiencing low yields and annual income.