Modern agricultural technologies — from chemical fertilizers to mechanized tools — have become central to Ethiopia’s agri-tech push, particularly in government-backed cluster farming schemes. Inorganic fertilizer, widely promoted as a productivity booster, sits at the heart of this effort. Yet for millions of smallholder farmers, access and affordability remain persistent barriers.
“Fertilizer is very expensive, costing around 8,000 birr per quintal,” said Kumsa Bekele, 55, a smallholder farmer on the rural outskirts of Holeta town.
A father of six, Kumsa cultivates teff, barley and wheat on three hectares of land. Like many farmers in Ethiopia’s highlands, he operates at the intersection of policy ambition and practical constraint.
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Farmers, he said, are not only squeezed by rising input costs but also by weak market linkages. “The market is not attractive for us,” he said. “We have extension workers, but our businesses are not supported by mobile technology that could help us access price and market information.”
He pointed to a deeper contradiction. “We hear about irrigation pumps and improved seed, but no one brings these items here,” he said. “They tell us to use new methods, but we still Plow with oxen. If we had even simple tools, we could plant more on less land.”
Basic post-harvest technologies are also scarce, he added, limiting farmers’ ability to preserve value after harvest. “We still farm the same way our fathers did,” Kumsa said, adding, there is talk about technology, “but for us, it never arrives.”
While agricultural extension workers provide technical advice, the economic imbalance remains stark. “The prices of our crops are low,” he said, “but the cost of inputs keeps rising.”
Similar frustrations are echoed by Tulie Gonfa, a 58-year-old farmer, also from the outskirts of Holeta. A father of six, he also grows teff, wheat, barley and beans, relying almost entirely on rainfall.
“The lack of access to simple irrigation and information technology limits our productivity,” Tulie said. Though he has heard of affordable drip irrigation systems and mobile-based weather alerts, none have reached his village. “When the rain fails, everything fails,” he said. Tulie believes if they had even basic irrigation or phone-based advice, they could farm year-round. Instead, “we wait and hope,” he said.
Extension workers, he noted, often lack the tools to demonstrate improved practices. Mechanization and digital tools, he believes, could transform rural livelihoods.
“Plowing depends on oxen, harvesting is done by hand,” he said. “Young people are leaving farming because it is too hard and gives little return. Without technology that fits small farmers, productivity will stay low — and farming will not attract the next generation.”
Roughly 95 percent of key crops are produced on smallholder farms like those of Kumsa and Tulie, accounting for more than 90 percent of national agricultural output. Yet yields remain far below potential, trailing those achieved on experimental and research farms.
The causes are structural, rooted in limited technological penetration and institutional gaps.
Studies show that technical efficiency among Ethiopian farmers averages just over 44 percent, reflecting outdated practices and uneven extension support. Even where small-scale irrigation exists, efficiency gains are modest without complementary technologies.
Adoption of improved seed — a relatively low-cost, mid-level technological intervention — also remains limited. Data indicate that land under local seed varieties still far exceeds that planted with improved seed, despite the latter’s proven yield advantages.
Temesgen Gebeyehu, who leads digital agriculture at the Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI), recalls a time just a decade ago when the sector was digitally dark. Back then, a lack of devices, poor signals, and low tech-literacy created a massive divide. “We started with simple, cost-effective tools like feature phones and radio,” he explains. Today, the landscape is shifting rapidly; Gebeyehu credits the “Digital Agriculture Roadmap” and the market entry of Safaricom for finally putting the pedal to the metal on Ethiopia’s agri-digitalization.
Farmers using ATI-supported platforms now have improved access to advisory services, real-time market information and direct buyer connections, reducing reliance on intermediaries, Temesgen said.
He pointed to what he described as tangible results, including progress in managing wheat rust — a disease that once destroyed up to 30 percent of national yields. Through targeted awareness campaigns and improved farming practices, losses have been significantly reduced.
Yet for many smallholders, the promise of agri-tech remains aspirational rather than lived.
Looking beyond Ethiopia’s borders, agricultural experts point to global examples that illustrate both the promise — and the distance yet to be covered — in agri-tech adoption.
Gemechu Kenenie (PhD), director of source technology multiplication and seed research at the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, cited South Korea as a benchmark, where digital tools have been fully integrated into farm management.
“In South Korea, farmers use drones to spray chemicals and remotely monitor nutrient and water deficiencies,” Gemechu said. “Cameras linked to satellite systems allow farmers to assess crop health without stepping into the field.”
He highlighted the widespread use of irrigation and fertigation systems — technologies that deliver water and nutrients simultaneously through controlled irrigation networks — as central to productivity gains. “This approach is being piloted in Ethiopia,” he noted. “If a crop is infected, farmers can photograph it, send the image to experts and receive recommendations to prevent disease spread.”
But such innovations, he stressed, remain fragmented and limited in scale.
Each stage of the agricultural value chain, Gemechu argued, requires tailored technologies — from mechanization and quality seed systems to efficient irrigation. “Ethiopia is still at a very early stage, even compared to other African countries,” he said. “In some areas, seeds are simply unavailable because certain crops are not treated as priorities.”
Progress in food-security crops has been notable, he acknowledged, but uneven. Despite improvements, he claims the country remains far behind, pointing to persistent shortages, poor timing of input delivery and high prices as critical obstacles. “Technology must be available at the right moment, in adequate quantities and at a fair cost. That remains a major challenge.”
Sprinkler and drip irrigation, he added, are still far from widespread adoption.
Gemechu also noted imbalances in crop development. Investment has largely focused on maize, wheat and teff, while oilseeds, fruits, vegetables and coffee have only recently begun to receive sustained attention.
These concerns are reflected in academic research. A 2021 study titled “Challenges of Smallholder Farming in Ethiopia and Opportunities by Adopting Climate-Smart Agriculture” found that most smallholder farmers cultivate cereals such as teff, maize, wheat, barley and sorghum. Yet yields remain less than half of their potential and significantly below those achieved on experimental farms and research stations — a gap the study attributes largely to limited agri-tech adoption.
Arega Shumetie (PhD), an agricultural economist, said that while mechanization is slowly expanding — including the use of combine harvesters in parts of Arsi and Bale — most agri-tech inputs remain limited to conventional fertilizers and chemicals.
Arega points out that while global farming enters the era of AI and robotics, Ethiopia hasn’t even caught up with the previous generation of technology. He observes that the nation is far from adopting advanced systems, as it has yet to fully integrate even “traditional agri-tech.”
He attributed the slow uptake to gaps in awareness and training, particularly when new technologies are introduced to older farmers without adequate support. Weak policy coordination and limited institutional backing, he added, further constrain progress.
As with the farmers in Holeta, Arega emphasized the sector’s growing demographic challenge. “Young people have little interest in agriculture,” he said. “They prefer industry, services or even informal work.”
Taken together, the evidence points to a familiar paradox: the country’s agricultural transformation is technologically imaginable and politically endorsed, yet operationally constrained.
“Agriculture receives the lowest budget allocation,” Arega said. Over the past six years, the mining sector received eight percent of total sectoral loans—up from five percent—while agriculture received only 3.2 percent, down from five percent. During the same period, trade and mining accounted for 30 and 28 percent of loans, respectively.
He argued that this financial imbalance, combined with limited policy support, insufficient training, and a shortage of qualified experts, continues to hold back the sector. The high cost of agri-tech, coupled with declining youth interest in farming, poses “major barriers even though minimal training could equip farmers with the necessary skills,” Arega said.
On the other side of the field, some private-sector actors are beginning to demonstrate the potential of technology-driven interventions. Zelalem Endalew, technical manager at ZTN Technology Solutions, described his company’s work deploying internet-based smart irrigation systems in water-scarce regions of Ethiopia.
“Since launching operations six months ago, we’ve implemented projects in the Fafen Zone of the Somali Region and in Chifra,” he said. “The first project has been operational for six months, and the second began three months ago. It will soon be formally inaugurated.”
According to Zelalem, these systems have significantly increased water efficiency and crop productivity. “We’ve achieved a 50 percent increase in available water resources and a 30 percent boost in agricultural productivity through water savings,” he said. “In the Afar region, the growing cycle has been reduced by 25 days—allowing farmers to plant an additional crop within a shorter period. Areas previously facing severe fodder shortages have also seen major improvements.”
Yet he acknowledged persistent challenges. Adoption of agri-tech in Ethiopia lags behind other East African nations, and low digital literacy remains a barrier. Studies rank Ethiopia 112th out of 138 economies in overall population digital skills.
Arega, on his part, emphasized the need for policy reforms and targeted investment to unlock the sector’s potential. “New seeds and improved inputs have been developed, but farmers still struggle to access them,” he said. He also called for expanded credit access, noting that agriculture underpins both industry and services. “Without greater financial support, smallholders cannot afford modern agri-tech,” he added.
