Abstract
Seasonal food shortage is amongst the principal problems of farmers in mid-altitude areas of Southern Ethiopia. Taro and sweet potato are important part of food security packages in some of the world’s poorest nations. Taro is grown over a wide range of environments from 1,300-2,300m.a.s.l.; mostly by the resource poor farmers and the drought area. Its compatibility with various types of limited in put farming systems (versatility) and reliability under conditions such as drought, high rain fall, disease resistance and low soil fertility have made it attractive crop to farmers. There is no recommended fertilizer rate of taros so far demonstrated and popularized to farmers, and hence this pre extension demonstration of fertilizer rate in Boloso-1 was carried out to develop high yielding taro for the area. The research was carried out in Boloso sore woreda of Wolaita zone and two kebeles were selected which are Dubo and GaraGodo respectively in 2018. There were significant difference exists among the urea applied and non applied Boloso-1 and Boloso-1 with urea application is recommended in the Boloso sore and in similar agro ecology. From the results of the treatment it was observed that farmers show great interest towards the Boloso-1 with urea application on top of the Boloso-1 applied without urea.
Highlights
Ethiopia, with an area of 112.3 M ha, is the 9th largest and with about 87 million people, the second most populated country in Africa next to Nigeria
Food insecurity is increasing in Ethiopia with 55% of farmers explaining that their annual harvest is insufficient to sustain the family for more than 6 months
To recommend the new recommended fertilizer rate which are suitable for the different agro-ecological zones in the study area
Summary
With an area of 112.3 M ha, is the 9th largest and with about 87 million people, the second most populated country in Africa next to Nigeria. According to Woldegiorgis [1], the country is endowed with suitable climatic condition and edaphic condition for quality and quantity of cultivation of various kinds of agricultural crops. In 2003, the agriculture sector accounted for about 42% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and about 85% the export earnings. Around 81% of the economically active population works in agriculture. Most of Ethiopian population depends mainly on cereal crop as food source. The food potential of horticultural crops that of root and tuber crops, like Taro has not been fully exploited and utilized despite their significant contribution towards food security, income generation, provision of food energy and resource base conservation [1]
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