construct a measure of weather by taking the ratio of average rainfall for the growing season to the thirtyyear average for the same period and place.

Consistent with the national figures, the 2006 wave data show that the Amhara and Oromia regions have higher proportions of fertilizer users (61 percent and 58 percent, respectively) followed by SNNP and Tigray regions (57 percent and 55 percent, respectively). However, in terms of consumption per hectare of fertilized land, SNNP and Tigray regions exhibit higher fertilizer application rates with averages of 153 kg and 144 kg, per hectare, followed by Amhara and Oromia regions with averages of 129 kg and 111 kg per hectare. The lower intensity of fertilizer use in Oromia may be related to the region's soil type.<sup>23</sup> Table 3 shows that around 68 percent and 63 percent of the households in the sample used one or more types of fertilizer (DAP, Urea or a mix of the two) in 2004 and 2006. The average fertilizer consumption increased from 42 to 55.7 kilograms per hectare in between the two rounds when both user and non-user households are considered. Considering only households that used fertilizer, a similar trend is observed, as consumption increased from 61 to 88 kilograms per hectare. At the plot level, average consumption per hectare increased from 116 to 167 kilograms. Still, surveyed farmers used chemical fertilizer on only 45 percent of their cropped area in 2006.

Application rates were below recommended rates, even for farmers that adopted fertilizer-using technologies. The timing of applications differed from recommended practices as well. For instance, while the Ethiopian Agricultural Research Institute recommends the application of urea over two cycles, the 2004 wave of the panel data shows that farmers who apply fertilizer do so all at once and none of the surveyed households applied urea in two cycles These outcomes are consistent with the notion that the choice of applied technology is constrained by market and household circumstances, although it is difficult to pin down the exact mechanism. It may be the case that the research findings were not adequately communicated to extension staff, that extension staff was unable to communicate the findings to farmers, or that farmers were unable to recognize the full benefits of best practices. It might also be the case that the practices advocated by extensions services are not best suited for all farms due to heterogeneity in climate and soils, a distinction that farmers may know better than researchers or extension staff.

The outcomes may also be linked to limited investments due to constraints on credit and wealth. Credit plays an important role in acquiring chemical fertilizers. In the 2004 survey wave, 61.5 percent of households received fertilizer on credit, while cash purchases accounted for only 37.7 percent (Table 4). Moreover, the pattern of credit in financing fertilizer purchases is not uniform across different regions. While credit finances more than 80 percent of purchases in Oromia, shares of credit-purchases drop to 35.7 percent and 40 percent in SNNP and Amhara regions, respectively. In Tigray, credit finances around 63 percent of fertilizer purchases. In terms of access to credit (from all type of sources such as friends, banks, microfinance and

> 23 For instance, the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture study recommends a lower dose of fertilizer per hectare (at 150 kg per ha. vs. the usual 200 per ha.) for vertisols soil type with improved Durhum wheat seed type.

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