SMALLHOLDER WHEAT PRODUCERS’ ACCESS TO AGRICULTURAL INFORMATION AND ITS INFLUENCING FACTORS IN SULULTA DISTRICT, OROMIA REGIONAL STATE IN ETHIOPIA

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.