Abstract
The study has assessed the determinants of fertilizer and improved chicken use and their impact on
the livelihoods of poor women households using the data collected from two locations in Degua
Temben district, central zone of Tigray region, Ethiopia. Combinations of methods were employed
to analyse the data collected from 150 randomly selected households. A statistical application
programs were used to make the descriptive analysis and linear regression models. The results
indicated that about 32% were reported to use chemical fertilizer for 2005 cropping year (n=38).
Male and female households of the adopters constitute 57% and 43% respectively. The mean
amount of fertilizer used by the adopted household was 30.26kg where as the mean value for the
total surveyed households were 7.66kg. About 24.7 % of the surveyed were reported to have
adopted improved chicken, of which 12 and 24 percents were female and male headed households
respectively. The average number of improved chicken was 3.68; while the mean for female and
male headed households was 3.86 and 4.1 respectively, indicating that there was no significant
difference on the use of improved chicken among men and women. The quantity of fertilizer
used by the surveyed households was significantly affected by the literacy level of the households.
Similarly, households who received training and visit of extension agents were likely used more
quantity of fertilizer than those which did not. The result indicated that there the adoption of both
technologies had significant impact on the total income on male headed households in relative
terms. In other words, women headed households were less benefited from the technologies as
compared to men.
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