Lentil (Lens Culinaris Medikus) Current Status and Future Prospect of Production in Ethiopia

Abstract

Lentil is among the oldest domesticated crop in the world. It is a cool season food legume playing a significant role in human and animal nutrition as well as soil fertility maintenance. It can be grown in rotation to cereal crops which promote sustainable cereal-based production systems with a potential of fixing free nitrogen reached up to 107 kg ha-1. It is the most important crop because of its high protein content and fast cooking characteristic. The major lentilgrowing countries are Canada, India, Turkey, Australia, USA, Nepal, China, and Ethiopia. Lentils have an indeterminate growth habit and flowering begins from the lowest branches, gradually moving up the plant and continuing until harvest. It is well adapted to various soil types and also considered as drought-resistant crop. But it is susceptible to excessive water stress. World lentil production has been increasing in recent years with most of the production coming from North American and Asian countries. Productivity of lentil in Ethiopia varies from region to region due to variation in environment and biotic factors. Currently, lentil is considered as a cash crop that fetches higher price compared to most of the cereals and pulses grown in Ethiopia. It is often claimed that, the internal (local) market seriously competes with the external market. Lentil has huge potential of reducing poverty and contributes to sustainable economic development in Ethiopia. Despite the country’s potential and sustained development efforts to get the pulse sub-sector moving, the competitiveness of lentil and hence its contribution to economic development is threatened by low productivity and inconsistent supply of products that does not met both export quality and quantity. On the other hand, the ever increasing population and ever changing client demand of lentil is the good opportunity for boosting production at farm level. In Ethiopia, lentil has received little attention in research, development and external fund attraction. Thus, it is essential to work with federal and regional seed enterprises, farmers’ cooperatives, unions, and seed producing farmers with involvement of private sectors in a coordinated manner to ensure adequate supply of locally certified seeds. It is also necessary to develop recommendations for organic and inorganic fertilizers that are most suitable for lentil production. These recommendations will depend on soil maps and controlled trials of blended fertilizers to determine the optimal balance of macro- and micronutrients. Providing of effective extension service is inevitable to break the existing resistance by awareness creation through demonstration at farmers training centers. Complementary lentil technologies including tillage frequency, seed treatment, planting techniques, genetically improve seed, pests and weed management practices have to be provide to boost production. Indeterminate growth habits of lentil makes not to mature at the same time and brought sever shattering problems before harvest. Harvesting while it is still green is recommended as one option to reduce shattering. Research on the development and promotion of tools (harvester) that would enable farmers to harvest lentil on time is important. Increasing farmers’ access to price information, increase the transparency of the market and would enable farmers make better selling decisions and provide increased bargaining power. The establishment of strong linkage among producers, suppliers, consumers, processors, whole sellers, and retailers is inevitable to begin value chain. A review has been made for boosting production and creating the demand for the use of improved technology keeping in view the enormous contribution of lentil for food and nutritional security.