Farmers’ perceived constraints to groundnut production, their variety choice and preferred traits in eastern Ethiopia: implications for drought-tolerance breeding

Abstract

ABSTRACTGroundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important food and cash crop globally. The eastern region of Ethiopia is known for its groundnut production despite the low productivity attributable to diverse biotic and abiotic stresses and socioeconomic constraints. The objective of this study was to assess farmers’ perceived production constraints, variety choice, and preferred traits of groundnut in eastern Ethiopia to guide future groundnut variety development and release. Participatory rural appraisal studies were conducted in two major groundnut-producing districts (Babile and Fedis) in eastern Ethiopia. Data were collected through a semi-structured questionnaire, transect walks, and focus group discussions. All respondent farmers widely cultivated local or obsolete, introduced varieties because of a lack of seed of modern groundnut cultivars. Ninety percent of respondents reported drought stress, mainly occurring during the flowering stage, as the leading constraint to groundnut production. Other groundnut production constraints included poor soil fertility (reported by 88% of respondents), lack of access to improved seed (67%), pre-harvest diseases (59.5%), use of low yielding varieties (52.5%), inadequate access to extension services (41.5%), limited access to credit (21.5%), and limited availability of improved varieties (18.5). Farmer-preferred traits included high shelled yield (reported by 27.67% of respondents), early maturity (16.84%), tolerance to drought stress (13.67%), market value (11.17%), good seed quality (10%), adaptability to local growing conditions (5.8%), and resistance to diseases (5.17%). Therefore, the aforementioned production constraints and farmer-preferred traits are key drivers that need to be integrated into groundnut breeding and variety release programs in eastern Ethiopia.