Participatory Demonstration and Evaluation of Onion Varieties in Lume and Dugda Woredas, East Shewa Zone of Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

Fitsum Miruts

doi:10.7176/jnsr/9-17-06

Abstract

Onion ( Allium cepa L.) is one of the most important vegetable crops grown in Ethiopia as well as in the study area. The crop is produced as a cash crop and it is widely used to increase the taste of the different types of food. The research activity was carried out to show the performance of recently released onion varieties (Nafis and Nasik red) along with the check (Bombay red) with their recommended agronomic recommendations through on-farm demonstration and evaluation under farmers' management and resources. Dugda woreda and Lume Woreda were purposively selected based on their onion production potentials from east Shewa zone. From each Woreda randomly one kebele was selected, Shinbi-Gamo kebele from Dugda woreda and Shera-Gibandiba from Lume woreda. Twenty-four farmers were selected, twelve farmers per woreda, for hosting the demonstrations. All the data collected from the demonstration fields and farmers were analyzed through simple descriptive statistics and preference ranking tool. The mean yield obtained from the demonstration field for each variety were 167.72 qt/ha (Nafis), 161.56 qt/ha (Nasik red) and 149.8 qt/ha (Bombay red) in Dugda woreda. In Lume woreda, the mean yield of the varieties was 320.39 qt/ha (Nafis) 257.39 qt/ha (Nasik red) and 257.39 qt/ha (Bombay red). Nafis variety shows better yield performance than the other two varieties in both woredas. The farmer's preference, further showed that Nafis variety was the best one or superior to the others by its high yielding ability, bulb size, and market preference. Therefore, agricultural research and woreda offices of agriculture should take the lead to further popularize the selected varieties in their respective mandate areas to boost production and productivity of the onion. Keywords: Demonstration, East Shewa Zone, Evaluation, Onion DOI : 10.7176/JNSR/9-17-06 Publication date :September 30 th 2019

Highlights

In Ethiopia, agriculture is the leading sector which contributes to nearly 36.7% of GDP
Description of the Study Area The study was conducted in Lume and Dugda woredas of East Shewa Zone, Oromia Regional State of Ethiopia
The onion demonstration yield result obtained was higher than what was reported as mean onion yield of the area by the central statistics agency (CSA) during 2018 and before

Summary

Introduction

In Ethiopia, agriculture is the leading sector which contributes to nearly 36.7% of GDP. It serves as the main source of food and generates 88.8% of the foreign exchange earnings. From the total cultivated area, a larger area (90%) was covered by grain crops (cereals, pulses, and oilseeds). Vegetables took up about1.46% of the area under all crops at the national level with 1.91% of the production of the total crops (CSA, 2018). Onion is one of the most important vegetable crops cultivated in Ethiopia. Onion is cultivated by smallholder farmers and commercial growers both under the irrigation and rain feed conditions where the larger area is covered under irrigation (Asfaw, 2015). East Shewa zone, the study area, has great potential for onion cultivation, due to the availability of sufficient irrigated farmland and the presence of relatively better market access as compared to the other areas (Teshome et al.,2015)

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