The status and constraints of food barley production in the North Gondar highlands, North Western Ethiopia

Abstract

BackgroundThe study was conducted in 2016 main cropping season in the North Gondar highlands of North Western Ethiopia. The objectives were to assess the status and to identify constraints of food barley production in the area. Three districts, namely Dabat, Debark and Wogera, were deliberately selected for this study, since they are the major barley producing districts of the north Gondar highlands.ResultsPrimary data with 180 farmers, focus group and key informant discussions were carried out to collect data. The collected data were subjected to descriptive statistics and analyzed with SPSS software. The result showed that 95.6% of the farmers grow local food barley showing the great association of this crop with food security of the households. Nearly half of the respondent farmers (51%) grow only in a quarter of their land. Only 18.3% of the farmers have access to improved varieties of food barley. According to farmers, the major actor involved in supporting their barley production is district agriculture office. The majority of the farmers (82%) indicate that area sown to barley is declining. The major reasons put by focus group discussants and key informants for the declining of barley cultivation are as follows: shifting to market oriented and cash crops; unavailability of improved varieties of barley; lack of researchers working in the improvement of barley; declining the fertility of the soil from time to time; declining the productivity of landraces from time to time.ConclusionTherefore, as long as farmers are cultivating barley and the area is potential to the crop, various actors should be involved to boost production and productivity of the crop through trainings and demonstration plots. The landraces the farmers kept for generations should be conserved before they lost.