Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is promoted in Ethiopia to strengthen productivity, resilience, and food security, yet adoption remains uneven across regions and gender groups. This study examined gendered barriers to CSA adoption and assessed policy responsiveness using primary survey data from 400 randomly selected households in the Oromia, Central Ethiopia, and Somali regions, alongside a structured policy review. Descriptive statistics, binary and count models, practice-specific probit models, and multivariable analyses were applied. Selected CSA practices were also examined as nature-based solutions (NbS). The results indicate that extension visits were associated with a 13.4-percentage-point higher probability of CSA adoption, while access to climate information was associated with a 14.9-percentage-point higher probability, both at p < 0.01. The main constraints include water scarcity (mean = 3.76), lack of finance (3.19), unsuitability of program design for farmers (3.15), high input costs (3.13), and poor training (3.00). Female-headed households face more constraints related to labor, tenure, training, and unsuitable program design. After adjustment for household, institutional, and regional characteristics, CSA adoption was associated with a 12.93-point higher resilience index. CSA adoption was associated with 63.6% lower odds of experiencing food shortage, OR = 0.364, p < 0.01. However, adoption was not significantly associated with women’s inclusion. This shows that CSA enhances resilience and food security but does not automatically enhance women’s empowerment. It means that Ethiopia needs gender-responsive and regionally specific services in extension, finance, training, tenure, and labor-saving practices.

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