55 research outputs found
Proceedings of Adaptation, Demonstration and Piloting of Irrigated Wheat Project: August 2021 - June 2025
No full textThis study assessed the adoption and impact of irrigated wheat technologies introduced through the Adaptation, Demonstration, and Piloting of Wheat Technologies for Irrigated Lowlands of Ethiopia (ADAPT-Wheat) project. The analysis is based on baseline (2022) and endline (2024) survey data collected from three districts in the Arsi Zone—Sire, Merti, and Jeju. Key findings: » Adoption patterns: Beneficiaries exhibited a higher rate of adoption of improved wheat varieties compared to non-beneficiaries. While Kingbird remained the dominant variety, the endline data revealed a shift toward newer varieties such as Daka and Boru, particularly among beneficiaries. This suggests a gradual diversification of wheat varieties influenced by project interventions, farmer preferences, and seed availability. » Input use and productivity: Wheat yields improved over time, with beneficiaries generally outperforming non-beneficiaries. Beneficiaries also reported slightly higher usage of fertilizers and herbicides, pointing to the impact of technical support and input access. These results underscore the importance of targeted interventions in seed distribution, fertilizer management, and extension services for enhancing productivity in irrigated wheat farming. » Spillover effects: Evidence of spillover effects was observed, as non-beneficiaries also adopted improved wheat technologies—particularly improved seed varieties. Adoption rates increased further when irrigation agronomy training was combined with other inputs. However, mechanization continued to exhibit lower adoption levels, likely due to access barriers such as cost and availability. »» Impact evaluation: The difference-in-differences (DID) analysis of yield outcomes showed positive but inconclusive results. While beneficiaries demonstrated a higher level of yield improvement, the short timeframe between baseline and endline likely limited the full capture of long-term impacts. Nonetheless, the observed gains provide an encouraging indication of progress, with the expectation that more conclusive impacts would emerge over a longer implementation and observation period. The findings confirm that well-targeted agricultural interventions—particularly those combining improved inputs with technical training—can drive adoption and improve productivity in smallholder irrigated wheat systems. While some adoption differences remain between direct and indirect beneficiaries, the positive trends in input use, varietal diversification, and yield improvement are promising. Strengthening seed systems, improving mechanization access, and extending the duration of support will be key to achieving sustained impact and scaling success across similar agroecological zones.145 page
The microfinance mirage: The politics of poverty, social capital and women's empowerment in Ethiopia
No full textMicrofinance has long been considered a development strategy that can correct the failure of the global credit market and address the financial needs of the poor enabling them to create and run profitable business enterprises. The Microfinance Mirage argues that this neo–liberal oriented analysis overemphasises the economic argument whilst ignoring the cultural roots of inequality and subordination. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted among rural credit clients in the Northern region of Ethiopia, Esayas Bekele Geleta provides a nuanced critical analysis of microfinance challenging the common assumption that it facilitates the building of social capital, poverty reduction and the empowerment of women. Making a unique contribution to our further understanding of the microfinance industry the research shows that, in some cases, microfinance can result in the disintegration of pre–existing relationships and in the disruption and destruction of the livelihoods of the poor. Exploring the impact of microfinance in one of the poorest regions of sub–Saharan Africa, this book demonstrates its potential and problems and shows the complex and contradictory social and cultural environments in which projects are often located.bookPublished
Temperature, planting depth, and genotype effects on seedling characteristics and seeding rate effects on agronomic and quality performance of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)
No full textTemperature levels, planting depths, and cultivars, affected seedling traits as expected. An increase in temperature from 12.8/12.8 to 20/20°C increased coleoptile length by 21 min implying that higher temperatures facilitated coleoptile elongation. An increase in planting depth from 2.5 to 7.5 an increased coleoptile length, shoot length, and fresh weight and decreased root length and germination % of the seedlings across cultivars. Cultivars had a wide range of responses in their mean performance for the seedling traits. Scout 66, Nekota, and Niobrara were considered to have good seedling vigor while Alliance, Arapahoe and Centura, were considered to have poor seedling vigor. Strong and significant positive correlation between coleoptile length and germination %, shoot length and fresh weight, and fresh weight and dry weight were observed. In summary, planting depths and cultivars had a greater impact on seedling traits than did our temperature levels. Planting depth and cultivars are controllable management factors; hence the optimum depth must be practiced for the appropriate cultivar. Coleoptile length is the trait that was most significantly affected by temperature regimes, planting depths and cultivars. It is the best predictor of seedling vigor and hence can be used as a selection criterion in the development of cultivars with vigorous seedlings. While numerous experiments have studied how seeding rates affect agronomic performance of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars, there are no or very few experiments which have studied how seeding rates affect end use quality particularly of modern wheat cultivars. Twenty winter wheat cultivars, were evaluated to assess the effect of cultivar and seeding rate on agronomic and quality performance of wheat. Significant differences among environments, seeding rates, cultivars and some of their interactions were identified. Lower seeding rates decreased stand density, grain yield and thousand-kernel weight and caused later flowering. Lower seeding rates also lowered flour yield and mixing time and raised flour protein content and mixing tolerance. Cultivars responded more to environmental conditions than to seeding rates. Agronomic and end use quality traits are greatly influenced by the prevailing environmental conditions, but not as much by seeding rates. Seeding rate is a predictable environmental factor which affects some agronomic and end use quality traits of wheat, hence should be carefully studied to obtain higher grain yields with relatively better end use quality
CIMMYT and Ethiopia: Helping farmers achieve higher yields and incomes
No full textIn 2017, Ethiopia produced over 8 million tons of maize. In the same year, the country produced over 4 million tons of wheat, making it the largest wheat producer in subSaharan Africa. Demand for wheat still outstrips supply, and the country remains a net importer of the crop. Many farmers in Ethiopia – especially single women – live on the edge offood insecurity and poverty. Withincreased urbanization, demand forwheat and maize is increasing. In addition to being adversely affected by climate change, Ethiopian farmers often plant the same wheat varieties year after year, which makes their crops more susceptible to disease. In the face on these challenges, Ethiopia is aiming for self-sufficiency in wheat production by 2022.2 page
CIMMYT in Africa
No full textMaize is the most important food crop in sub-Saharan Africa, while wheat consumption is high in northern Africa and on the rise throughout the continent. CIMMYT works with partners such as farmers and seed companies to sustainably improve the productivity of these staples, which has a direct impact on poverty reduction and food security.1 pag
Yield stability analysis of nine spring bread wheat genotypes in the central highlands of Ethiopia
No full textEight promising bread wheat lines and one standard check cultivars were evaluated for grain yield performance, stability and adaptation across nine environments of the central highlands of Ethiopia. Results of the combined analysis of variance for grain yield showed highly significant effects of genotypes, environments, and genotype by environment interaction. The mean grain yields for individual lines ranged from 3249 to 4762 Kh ha-1. When the genotypic grain yields were subjected to stability analysis against an environmental index, the regression coefficients for individual lines ranged from 0.406 to 1.451. Among the lines tested, HAR 1696 and Enkoy were the two most stable genotypes across all environments, while two of the four highest yielding lines, HAR 1349 and HAR 1709, appeared to be specifically adapted to favorable growing conditions. The test line HAR 1685 exhibited superior yield performance across all environments, and was recommended for release in 1994 for commercial production in Ethiopia.35-4
Low Nitrogen Narrows down Phenotypic Diversity in Durum Wheat
No full textAbstractBreeding for nitrogen use efficiency has become the major global concern and priority to improve agricultural sustainability. In an attempt to quantify genetic variation and identify traits for optimum and low N environments, 200 durum wheat genotypes were evaluated at three locations in the central highlands of Ethiopia during the 2020 growing season. The experiments were arranged in alpha lattice design with two replications. The results revealed significant differences among genotypes for all studied traits under both N conditions, indicating ample opportunities for genetic improvement. All traits except days to heading and maturity, grain filling period and grain protein content were higher under optimum than under low N. High values of genotypic and phenotypic coefficients of variations, broad sense heritability and genetic advance as percent of the mean were observed for number of fertile tillers and number of seed per spike (NSPS) under optimum, and spike length and NSPS under low N conditions. Cluster analysis classified the durum wheat genotypes into thirteen and eight clusters under optimum and low N, respectively. Principal component analysis detected five and four components which explained 81.29% and 73.63% of the total variations under optimum and N stress conditions, respectively. The present study confirmed the existence of wide genetic variability among the durum wheat genotypes under optimum and low N conditions; and low N lowers the level of diversity. Thus, our study paves the possibility for improvement of durum wheat genotypes through selection and hybridization for increased grain yield and adaptation to N stressed conditions
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