Participatory on farm Evaluation and Demonstration of improved Field Pea (Pisum sativum L.) variety with proper agronomic Practices at Dita and Geze -Gofa Districts of Southern Ethiopia.

Abstract

Background & Aim: Despite large area under cultivation, the production and productivity of field pea in Ethiopia is very low. One of the reasons to this is the insufficient demonstration of newly released and improved field pea varieties with proper agronomic practices. Therefore, participatory on farm evaluation and demonstration of the Birikitu variety and Local check were conducted at Dita district of Gamo Zone and Geze Gofa Districts of Gofa Zone in 2023 by the aim of enhancing the adoption and diffusion of the field pea technology to farmers. Methods: The demonstration was conducted on 40 farmers field and 4 Farmers Training Center. It was undertaken on single plot of 10mx20m area for each variety on each farmer’s field and each Farmers Training Center with the spacing of 20cm between rows and 5cm between plant and seed rate of 150Kg/ha and fertilizer rate of 100kg/ha NPS. Yield data per plot was recorded and analyzed using mean while farmers’ preference was collected using Focused Group Discussion and summarized using preference ranking methods. Training and field days were conducted. Results: The mean yield performance of Birikitu variety at farmer’s field was 1,898.3 Kg/ha and that of local check was 1,266.3Kg/ha. Similarly, the mean yield performance of Birikitu at farmers’ field was 1,443.75 Kg/ha and that of local were 781.25Kg/ha. The higher yield gap of 632kg/ha also indicates that there is a strong need to motivate the farmers for adoption of improved field pea varieties over their local practices. The net benefits that were obtained from Birikitu and Local check were 88,888.2 and 48,562 Ethiopian Birr respectively. Birikitu variety showed more profitable than that of local variety both on farmer’s field and Farmers Training Centers. Farmers select the demonstrated varieties by different criteria. Conclusion: Based on the criteria that farmers settled, Birikitu variety was selected as the first choice by its very good disease and pest resistances, high tolerances to acidic soil, seed color, seed size, optimum grain yield and good marketability. Therefore, the variety Birikitu is recommended with the proper agronomic practices for the wider production by the farmers of the similar agro ecology. .