Evidence from Fogera district in Ethiopia on configuration of farmer's information literacy conditions that explain better productivity performance of the horticultural crops

Abstract Background The combinational/configurational effects of the agricultural information literacy indicators are believed to have an influence on the productivity performance of the horticultural crops. Previous studies have emphasized the contributions of the net-effect of each information literacy condition of smallholder farmers on the productivity performance of the horticultural crops. Yet, these studies failed to make qualitative analysis on configurational effects of the agricultural information literacy conditions. Methods The study addresses the qualitative questions that are outside the scope of the conventional variable-oriented method. It aims to disentangle the causal complexity that links with productivity performance in Fogera district of the Amhara region, Ethiopia. A fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) of 80 smallholder farmers was conducted through a simple ransom sampling technique from two kebeles of Fogera district to examine the combinational effects of agricultural information literacy condition on the productivity performance instead of individual net-effect. Results The results of the fsQCA model indicated that a combination of two or three conditions include the high levels of farm organizational, farm record-keeping, and farming skills to be consistently sufficient to attain high productivity performance of horticultural crops. These configurations help to seek relevant policy information and make policy strategies on the horticultural sector to improve its productivity performance. Conclusion Thus, improving the joint information literacy effects of the farmers regarding their organizational, farm recording, and farming skills should give due attention by governmental and non-governmental organizations that work to improve the productivity performance of the horticultural crops.