Determinants of Agricultural Productivity in Ethiopia: ARDL Approach Aynalem Shita 1,2 , Nand Kumar 1 and Seema Singh 1 Abstract This study analyses factors affecting agricultural productivity in Ethiopia for the period of 1990–2016 by using autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model. Both the bounds test and the error correction model confirmed the existence of co-integration (long-run relationship) between the variables included in the model. The results revealed that cereal productivity is positively influenced by use of fertiliser and real gross domestic product (GDP) both in the long run and in the short run. While size of arable land influences productivity positively in the long run, its short-run effect was found to be negative. Hence, the government and other concerned authorities should work to enhance farmers’ use of improved technologies, such as fertiliser, by ensuring its timely availability at an affordable price, encouraging farmers to participate on alternative sources of income such as off-farm activities and bringing addi- tional area under cereal production to improve agricultural productivity. Keywords Determinants, agricultural productivity, ARDL, Ethiopia JEL Codes: O13, O33 I. Introduction Agriculture remains a crucial sector in the Ethiopian economy. It accounts for 36.7 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and generates 88.8 per cent of export earnings. The sector is the major source of livelihood, and its growth is a major driver of poverty reduction in rural Ethiopia. Towards the goal of ensuring food security in the country, the Ethiopian government has planned to increase agricultural productivity through the adoption of modern technologies among other strategies (National Planning Commission, 2016). In Ethiopia, cereals are the main food crops in terms of both the area they are planted (80.71%) and volume of production obtained (87.48%). The major cereal crops produced in the country are Maize, teff, sorghum and wheat, which made 27.43 per cent, 17.26 per cent, 16.89 per cent and 15.17 per cent of the grain production, respectively (CSA, 2018). In Ethiopia, though substantial increase has been observed Original Article 1 Department of Humanities, Delhi Technological University, New Delhi, Delhi, India. 2 Department of Economics, Debre Markos University, Ethiopia. Corresponding author: Aynalem Shita, Department of Humanities, Delhi Technological University, New Delhi, Delhi 110042, India. E-mail: ayn_sh@yahoo.com The Indian Economic Journal 1–10 © 2020 Indian Economic Association Reprints and permissions: in.sagepub.com/journals-permissions-india DOI: 10.1177/0019466220941418 journals.sagepub.com/home/iej