Agricultural Bureaux Research Articles

Choices of Adaptation Strategies to Climate Variability and Its Determinants: Evidence from Farm Households of Benishangul Gumuz Regional State, Western Ethiopia

Climate variability and change is a serious threat to the livelihoods of rural communities because they are very sensitive to such changes. This study identified farmers’ choice of and factors determining adaptation strategies to climate variability and change in Benishangul Gumuz regional state, western Ethiopia which is harshly affected by climate change stresses. Both primary and secondary data were used for the study. Primary data were collected from a randomly selected 395 sample households through interviewed using field-based questionnaires and focus group discussions. Relevant secondary data were also obtained from Benishangul Gumuz region Agriculture and Natural resource Bureau, national meteorological agency and different reports. Descriptive statistics were used to describe farmers’ adaptation strategies to climate change. Multivariate probit model was estimated to identify the factors determining households’ choice of adaptation strategies to climate change. The results of the model pointed out that the likelihood of households to adopt soil and water conservation practice, crop diversity, small scale irrigation, improved crop varieties, agrochemical applications and adjusting planting date were 64.7%, 70.4%, 65.5%, 64.2%, 63.6% and 58.9% respectively. The results also indicated that the joint likelihood of using all adaptation strategies was only 2.13% and the joint likelihood of failure to adopt all of the adaptation strategies was 2.82%. Moreover, Multivariate probit model confirmed that age, sex, education status, family size, dependency ratio, total land holding, farming experience, credit access, frequency of extension contacts, distance to the market, total livestock holding, farm income and off/non-farm income have a statistically significant impact on climate adaptation strategies. Therefore, policy makers should focus on towards supporting improved extension service, facilitating the availability of credit especially to adaptation technologies, improving farmers farm income earning opportunities, improving their literacy status, and improving their access to markets.

Development and Content Analysis of Lubeg (Syzygium lineatum)

The study discusses the development and composition analysis of Lubeg Vinegar. According to the Department of Agriculture Bureau of Agricultural Research, the lubeg fruit was previously an unutilized fruit. Since the fruit is easily accessible and often wasted, the researcher employed it as the primary ingredient in vinegar production. A total of 30 individuals from Isabela State University evaluated the Lubeg Vinegar. The research study utilized Mean (M) and Standard Deviation (SD). The acceptability and marketability scores of two samples of Lubeg (Syzygium lineatum) vinegar (brown sugar and white sugar) were compared using an independent samples t-test. The sizes were calculated using partial eta squared and interpreted according to Cohen's guidelines: 0.01 indicated a small effect, 0.06 a medium effect and 0.14 a large effect. Consequently, it became evident from the research that the method for making Lubeg vinegar from lubeg (Syzygium lineatum) was highly successful and efficient. Furthermore, lubeg (Syzygium lineatum) vinegar influenced consumer acceptability and was generally well-received by tasters. However, concerning color/appearance, aroma/smell, sour/acidity and respondents' willingness to purchase, Lubeg (Syzygium lineatum) vinegar with white sugar was generally more acceptable than Lubeg vinegar with brown sugar. Moreover, the commercialization of Lubeg vinegar has yielded a profitable return on investment.

Pre-scaling up of ground nut varieties in selected districts of West and Kellem Wollega zones, Ethiopia

The study was conducted in Dale sadi, Dale wabera and Sayo districts of Kellem wollega Zone and Gimbi districts of west Wollega zone for two consecutive years of production(2016/17 and 2017/18 G.C ) on farmers’ field. The objective of the study was to pre-scale up and popularize the best-performing and preferred groundnut variety in the study area. The study addressed a total of 90 farmers in the two years of the project span. From a total of 90 farmers, male represents 73 and female 17. During farmers’ selection process, both female and male farmers were incorporated so as to avoid gender bias. Training was given to the selected farmers, development agents and district experts about improved groundnut technologies production and management. Full packages of the technologies were provided. Variety Manipinter was planted on plot area of 0.25ha on respective farmers’ field in the study area. The recommended rate of NPS 100kg/ha and Row planting method with the spacing of 60cm between rows and 10cm between plants were used respectively. To enhance farmer’s knowledge on Groundnut training was given for target community on agronomic practice of Groundnut. During training a total of 117 target communities were participated on training out of which 84 were male and 33 were male. An average production of 14.935 qt/ha and a total of 336 quintal of groundnut yield was harvested during project life span. Finally, farmers feedback concerning technology was collected and incorporated, accordingly the farmers feel as the Manipinter have relatively high yield, good seed quality (Grain size, color), disease tolerant than previously used varieties. Generally, since it is impossible to address all farmers only by the effort of the research center, district agriculture and natural resource bureau in collaboration with zonal agricultural and natural resource office and input supplying NGO’s should hold the turn to scale up the technology in wider scale. Res. Agric. Livest. Fish. Vol. 10, No. 2, August 2023: 147-153

Food Shortage: Filipino – American Cooperation Against Famine, 1900-1910

This study has reviewed the ability of the Filipino farmers in the island of Panay, part of Central Philippines, confront the food shortage as they sought for abundant harvest and ensure the steady supply of food needed by the hard-pressed population. This study investigates how the 2nd Philippine Commission and the local population averted the outbreak of famine in the island of Panay. It traces the existing indicators that famine may break out and become a potential threat to the population of the said island at the advent of the 20th century. This paper also probes how the farming communities and their provincial governments addressed the problem of food shortage, and stresses the significant role of three colonial agencies – the Bureau of Agriculture, Bureau of Public Works, and Bureau of Public Health – which the Philippine Commission utilized in its campaign against food shortage.

Food security among SNAP participants 2019 to 2021: a cross-sectional analysis of current population survey food security supplement data.

Surveillance data indicate that food security rates increased among Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020 and 2021) compared with pre-pandemic (2019), but this could have been due to increased participation from better resourced households. Our objective was to examine if demographic differences between SNAP-participating households in each year were responsible for the increased prevalence of food secure households. We calculated the observed 30-d food security prevalence among SNAP-participating households for each year. We used indirect standardisation to produce expected 2020 and 2021 prevalences with 2019 as the standard population using household size, income, age, sex, race, Hispanic ethnicity, presence of children, single parent household, metropolitan status and census region. We calculated standardised prevalence ratios (SPRs) to understand if the observed prevalence was higher than expected given any changes in the demographic profile compared to 2019. The Current Population Survey data were collected by the United States Census Bureau and Department of Agriculture. Our sample included 5,245 SNAP-participating households. The observed prevalence of food secure households increased by 3⋅6 percentage points comparing 2019 to 2020 (SPR = 1⋅06, 95 % confidence interval = 1⋅00, 1⋅11) and by 8⋅6 percentage comparing 2019 to 2021 (SPR = 1⋅13, 95 % confidence interval = 1⋅07, 1⋅18). The greater prevalence of food secure SNAP households during the pandemic did not appear to be attributable to socio-demographic differences compared to pre-pandemic. Despite hesitance among policymakers to expand or enhance social safety net programmes, permanently incorporating COVID-19-related policy interventions could lessen food insecurity in years to come.

Improving Drug Therapy for Pediatric Patients: Unfinished History of Pediatric Drug Development.

Improving Drug Therapy for Pediatric Patients: Unfinished History of Pediatric Drug Development.

تأثير الرش بتركيزات مختلفة من المستخلص المائي لفصوص الثوم في صفات النمو الزهري والمحصول لنبات الخيار (.Cucumis sativus L) صنف (Beit Alpha) تحت الظروف المناخية لمدينة إب في اليمن

الملخص يعدّ محصول الخيار من محاصيل الخُضر المنتشرة زراعته محلياً بشكل واسع في البيوت المحمية، نظراً إلى القيمة الغذائية لثماره. لكنه يعاني من أن عدد الأزهار المذكرة في النبات الواحد أعلى من عدد الأزهار المؤنثة؛ مما يؤثر سلبياً في إنتاج النبات الواحد، لذلك أُجري البحث بهدف دراسة تأثير الرش بتركيزات مختلفة من المستخلص المائي لفصوص الثوم (1.25، 2.50، 3.75، 5، 6.25، 7.50 سم3/ لتر، إضافة إلى استخدام الماء المقطر كشاهد) في صفات النمو الزهري والمحصول الكلي لنبات الخيار، صنف بيت ألفا، في عام 2019؛ بغرض زيادة عدد الأزهار المؤنثة والمحصول للنبات الواحد. نُفذ البحث في المشتل التابع لمكتب الزراعة والري في محافظة إب في الجمهورية اليمنية، ودُرست مجموعة من صفات النمو الزهري والمحصول. وأظهرت النتائج أن الرش بالمستخلص المائي لفصوص الثوم أدى إلى تحسين صفات النمو الزهري والمحصول الكلي؛ إذ أعطى التركيز 3.75 سم3/ لتر أعلى القيم وبتفوق معنوي للصفات المدروسة (عدد الأزهار المؤنثة/ نبات، والنسبة الجنسية والإنتاجية الكلية) بلغت 40.10 زهرة/ نبات، في حين بلغت الصفتان المدروستان الأخرييان 1.29 و31.44 طناً/ هكتار على التوالي، عدا موقع أول زهرة أنثوية وعدد الأزهار المذكرة/ نبات؛ وقد أعطى التركيز نفسه أقل القيم وبانخفاض معنوي بلغت 4.98 و30.82 زهرة على التوالي، بينما التركيز 5 سم3/ لتر أعطى أعلى القيم للنسبة المئوية للثمار العاقدة وبتفوق معنوي بلغت 58.11%. تم تحسين قيمة الانحدار التربيعي (R2) من 3.6% (خطي) إلى 86.6% (تربيعي)، ويلاحظ أن الانحدار في صورة المنحنى التربيعي أظهر كفاءة أعلى عن الصورة في المنحنى الخطي في تفسير نقص أو زيادة الإنتاج المرتبط بنقص أو زيادة تركيزات مستخلص فصوص الثوم. وفي المنحنى التربيعي، إذا تم رش مستخلص الثوم الورقي بمستوى 3.53 سم3/ لتر، فمن المتوقع أن يكون الحد الأقصى لإجمالي محصول الخيار 30.94 طناً/ هكتار.أثبت البحث فاعلية مستخلص فصوص الثوم عند تركيز معيّن في رفع أعداد الأزهار المؤنثة مقارنة بالأزهار المذكرة في النبات الواحد ومما ينتج منه زيادة إنتاج النبات.

Factors Affecting Internal Audit Effectiveness in Public Organizations: Case of Bureau of Agriculture in Wolaita District of South Ethiopia

The general purpose of this study is to examine the factors affecting internal audit effectiveness in agricultural bureau, in Wolaita district of South Ethiopia. The study employed quantitative research approach (questionnaire presented to 110 respondents) to collect the study data. Data is analyzed by employing SPSS (software Package for Social Science) version 21. The empirical analysis of the present study is used both descriptive statistics and regression analysis. To determine variables influencing effectiveness of internal audit, correlation and regression analysis were conducted. The study findings revealed that moral of internal audit staff has power to affect effectives of internal audit in agricultural bureau in Wolaita district of South Ethiopia. The study also revealed that correlation of variables is significant at the 0.01 level. Keeping moral of internal audit is mandatory to public financial organizations. Keywords: Audit effectiveness, internal audit, public organizations, DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/13-13-02 Publication date: July 31 st 2022

Indigenous Knowledge Assessment on Irrigation Water Management Practices

Indigenous knowledge is the local or traditional knowledge system used by farmers. Therefore indigenous knowledge on irrigation water management means using of local or traditional knowledge system to manage irrigation water. This study was aimed to investigate farmers’ current irrigation water management practice and their technical performance. In this study I used reconnaissance survey and observation were carried out with each implementing center and Woreda Bureau of Agriculture to obtain overview of different irrigation schemes and irrigation practice conditions. The collected qualitative and quantitative data both from primary and secondary sources were analyzed using appropriated statistical methods like SPSS. The study result showed that farmers have developed several indigenous knowledge of irrigation water management practices. Among these knowledge, most of farmers in both weredas use furrow irrigation method, farmers use soil moisture method and crop leaf wilt techniques to irrigate cropped land, Most farmers apply irrigation water at morning and night time, The respondents uses watering top ridge to determine irrigation water sufficient and watering bottom ridge and slow stream flow for irrigation water insufficient.

Finger Millet Production in Ethiopia: Opportunities, Problem Diagnosis, Key Challenges and Recommendations for Breeding

Finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn) is a highly nutritious crop, predominantly grown in the semi-arid tropics of the world. Finger millet has a niche market opportunity due to its human health benefits and being rich in calcium, iron and dietary fiber and gluten-free. Ethiopia is the center of the genetic diversity of the crop. However, the productivity of finger millet in the country is low (<2.4 tons ha−1) compared with its potential yield (6 tons ha−1). The yield gap in Ethiopia is due to a range of biotic and abiotic stresses and socio-economic constraints that are yet to be systemically documented and prioritized to guide future production and improved variety development and release. The objective of this study was to document finger millet production opportunities, constraints and farmer-preferred traits in Ethiopia as a guide to variety design in improvement programs. A participatory rural appraisal (PRA) study was undertaken in six selected districts of the Southern Nation Nationalities People Region (SNNPR) and Oromia Region in Ethiopia. Data were collected from 240 and 180 participant farmers through a semi-structured questionnaire and focus group discussion, respectively. Finger millet was the most important crop in the study areas grown mainly for a combination of uses, including for food, feed and cash (reported by 38.8% of respondent farmers), food and feed (14.5%), food and cash (13.7%), food (11.5%) and food, cash, feed and construction material (9.7%). Hand weeding was used by 59.2% of the respondent farmers, followed by hand weeding and chemical herbicides (40.8%). Finger millet was mainly planted as a sole crop (reported by 97.0% respondents), mixed (1.7%) and sole and mixed (1.3%). About 75.6% of respondent farmers only practiced finger millet rotation with other crops. Respondent farmers indicated their source of fresh seed was from the Bureau of Agriculture (49.1%), farmer-to-farmer seed exchange (22.1%), own saved seed (7.5%), local producers (7.5%), research institutions (5.8%), unknown sources (4.1%), local market (3.5%) and cooperatives (0.42%). The total cost of finger millet production per hectare was calculated at 1249 USD with a total income of 2139 USD/ha, making a benefit to cost ratio of 1.71:1.00 and indicating the relatively low yield gains using the currently grown varieties. The main constraints to finger millet production in the study areas were drought stress (reported by 41.3% respondents), lack of improved varieties (12.9%), lack of financial resources (11.3%), small land holdings (10.8%), limited access to seed (10.0%), a shortage of fertilizers (5.4%), poor soil fertility (4.6%), shortage of draught power (1.3%), labour shortages (1.3%) and high labour costs (1.3%). The most important farmer-preferred traits in a finger millet variety were high grain yield, compact head shape, ‘enjera’-making quality, high marketability and early maturity, resolved through principal component analysis. The above-mentioned production constraints and farmer-preferred traits are strategic drivers to enhance finger millet productivity and need to be incorporated into Ethiopia’s finger millet breeding and technology development.

Urban Expansion and Its Effect on Agricultural Technology Adoption of Smallholder Peri-Urban Farmers in Tigray Region, Ethiopia

<p>In the rapidly growing world, where farming land is shrinking due to horizontal urban expansion and development-induced projects, agricultural productivity should grow by 70% to meet food needs. Spatial urban expansion in developing countries, not exceptional to Ethiopia, puts immense pressure by taking peri-urban fertile agricultural land for the purpose of development. This paper examines whether urban expansion increases or decreases the agricultural technology adoption capacity of smallholder peri-urban farmers. Households were clustered into displaced and non-displaced, and data were collected from 341 households, 101 of whom were displaced and 240 households were non-displaced. Descriptive statistics and econometric model were employed to explore the role of urban expansion in technology adoption of smallholder peri-urban farmers. The multivariate probit result shows that urban expansion decreases the tendency of displaced smallholder peri-urban farmers to participate in irrigation and adoption of a generator but urban expansion does not increase or decrease displaced households’ tendency to adopt beehive and practice row sawing. Generally, urban expansion decreases the affinity of smallholder peri-urban farmers to adopt agricultural technologies. Therefore, policymakers, particularly the Bureau of Agriculture should intensively work and train displaced smallholder peri-urban farmers on the benefit of agricultural technologies to improve agricultural productivity and use the remaining plot of farmland sustainably. Besides strong monitoring and follow-up are required to avert the negative ramifications of development-induced displacement.</p>

Assessment of Available Feed Resources in Damot Sore Woreda, Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia

This study was conducted in Damot Sore Woreda, Wolaita Zone, Southern Nation Nationalities and People Regional State with the objective of assessing available feed resources in the area. Eighty households, 40 from Woinadega and 40 from Qolla were selected randomly. A semi-structured questionnaire was prepared and an interview was carried out to collect data. The major feed resources available in the study area included; natural pasture, crop residues, agro-industrial by-products and some improved forages like Elephant grass, pigeon pea, Guatemala, (Desho were described. The major feeding systems practiced in the area were free grazing, rotational grazing, zero grazing/cut and carry systems, tethering and herding together. The major feed production constraints forwarded by the farmers include shortage of grazing land lack of improved forage seed and lack of awareness about conservation of feeds during periods of high availability, less extension work on interventions of feed shortage through improved forage development although some efforts were made by the bureau of agriculture and nongovernmental organization. In general feed conservation in the form of silages and hay, supplementations of tree legumes and treatments of crop residues should be practiced to alleviate feed shortage and boost livestock productivity. Keywords: Availability, Damot Sore; Feed resource, Improved Forages. DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/11-17-01 Publication date: September 30 th 2021

COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN SUSTAINABLE SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION: THE CASE OF GORO GUTUU WOREDA OROMIA, ETHIOPIA

Monitoring the importance of civic participation in the process of sustainable soil and water conservation measures in cases where irregular and unstable participation of civic/community in the process of sustainable soil and water conservation measures has been observed is taken as central problem of the study area. The sequential exploratory mixed type of research was used to answer the stated research questions; moreover, to make sure of getting reliable and valued data both primary and secondary data was collected through FGD, KII, Questionnaires and field observation. As a result, from 203 persons, 24, 12 and 167 informants participated in FGD, KII and survey respectively. The collected data was analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively through narration and statistical description respectively. The statistical significance of perception of the difference between informants gathered from three agro ecological zones of study sites was tested by Kruskal Wallist Test. This study significantly identifies the importance of community participation as it is important to develop awareness, sense of ownership, transparency and self–trust among communities in sustainable soil and water conservation activities. Also, the small size of farm leads to low level of annual agricultural income and wealth, low educational status leads to low level of awareness and health status of farming communities, reactive culture of farming communities toward conservation activities and low commitment and weak capacity of front line leaders was identified as economic, social, cultural and political factors that affect dependable participation communities in sustainable soil and water conservation activities. Accordingly, the researcher recommended that, Bureau of agriculture and natural resource office should look again and set clear strategies towards the right of ownership / the right of use of resources produced on rehabilitated closed farm land. Also, the district and zone agriculture and natural resource office should capacitate and empower the front line mobilization agent through training and motivational activities. The future researcher should give emphasis and come up with most possible alternatives which will help to minimize the effect of the small size farm land leading to low level of annual agricultural income and wealth resulted from uneven participation of community in sustainable soil and water conservation activities.

Promotion of Recently Released Mid Altitude and Lowland Sub Humid Agro Ecologies of Maize (Zea mays L.) Varieties to Selected Districts of Assosa Zone in Benishangul Gumuz Region, Ethiopia

The advancement of improved maize varieties was directed to highly pastoralist natives and maize producing belts of settlers in Assosa Zone. The study was supported in the 2015/2016 main season with active involvement of farmers in association with Districts and Zonal bureau of agriculture. A total of nine farmers from three main maize conceivable Districts (Homosha, Assosa and Bambasi). Even though, the pairwise and direct matrices selection of farmers at the field day result showed BH547 as first in the estimating grain yield followed BH546, the overall actual mean grain yield analysis result after harvest showed BH546 the first highest in grain yield (7.9t- 1ha followed by BH547 (7.7t-1ha) and BH540 (5.8t-1ha). The crop technology demonstration has given a decent impression over the farming and pastoral societies motivated selecting their traits of interest from varieties at the time of field day using pair wise and direct matrices selection as a tool. The farmers’ preharvest variety selection ranking and actual post-harvest grain yield ranking were more scientific and similar in the two improved varieties (BH546 and BH547). The receipt of these variability’s was massive through the field day which obviously recommends the constructive impression of demonstration over farmer’s preexisted variety and maize production in Assosa zoneis to be one of the best technologies and recommended to scale out these advanced varieties in areas where they are not announced.

A Seminar Title On the History and Evolution of Agricultural Extension in the Ethiopia Country

Agricultural extension service began work in Ethiopia since 1931, during the establishment of Ambo Agricultural School. But a formal Agricultural extension started since Alemaya Imperial College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts (Haramaya) was constructed since 1953.The extension activities of Ethiopia during the last 50 years reveals that a range of extension approaches has been used. The approaches tended differ with each successive political regime. Different extension approaches in different political regimes, during the imperial regime the responsibility for national extension administration to the Ministry of Agriculture, extension service became one of the departments in the Ministry. And during the military regime the land reform proclamation banned the private ownership of rural lands and declared that land would be distributed to the tillers without compensation to former owners. Because of the political instability and major structural changes in the rural areas, including the formation of peasant associations and producers' cooperatives as well as the implementation of the land reform, it was not possible to carry out this plan. There was not much organized and coordinated extension work in the country until the beginning of the 1980. At the current Extension service of Ethiopia in 1991 the T & V extension approach was adopted as a national extension system with major government financing until its replacement by the Participatory Demonstration and Training Extension System in 1995. The latter was adopted from the SaSakawa Global 2000 (SG 2000) extension strategy. Agricultural extension service in Ethiopia can be given by different mandatory level such as at federal level by ministry of Agriculture, At Regional level Bureau of Agriculture, At Woreda level Agricultural and Natural Resource office, and at Farmer Training center level Development agent and different stockholders have responsibility of giving extension especially agriculture related extension to need holders. In Ethiopia there are different extension approaches model such as Chilalo agricultural development model (CADU), minimum package project I and II, Peasant Agricultural Development program, participatory demonstration and training extension system, farmers field school, Farmers training center and Agricultural technical and Vocational Education training (ATVET) these are the different extension approaches in Ethiopia starting from the begging up to current extension service respectively.

The association between macular pigment optical density and visual function outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis on data related to macular pigment optical density (MPOD) and visual function in adults with healthy eyes. MEDLINE®, Cochrane, and Commonwealth of Agriculture Bureau abstracts databases were searched for English-language publications between 1946 and August 2018. Included studies examined correlation of MPOD and visual function in adults with healthy eyes at all timepoints and all designs, except for case-control, case reports, and reviews. Visual function outcomes of interest included photostress recovery, contrast sensitivity, visual acuity, glare sensitivity/disability, and dark adaptation. Random effects model meta-analyses combined study-level correlation (r). Twenty-two publications were included. In meta-analysis MPOD was found to be significantly correlated with contrast sensitivity at 30' (two studies, summary r: 0.37; 95% CI 0.15, 0.56), and at 1° eccentricity with a spatial frequency of 7, 11, and 21 cpd (three studies, summary r: 0.31; 95% CI 0.06, 0.52), with photostress recovery at a 1° eccentricity with a moderate background, 10 cpd, and 16% contrast (two studies, summary r: -0.17; 95% CI -0.31, -0.02), and at 30' (four studies, summary r: -0.57; 95% CI -0.78, -0.24), and with glare disability at 30' eccentricity with a log scale at 460 nm (three studies, summary r = 0.47; 95% CI 0.32; 0.59). There were insufficient data for meta-analysis for other visual functions. Our review identifies a link between MPOD and visual function with significant correlations with photostress recovery, glare disability, and contrast sensitivity.

Determinants of Adoption of Improved Bread Wheat Production Technology in Southern Ethiopia

Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the major staple and cash crops for smallholder farmers in Ethiopia and is mainly grown in the central and southeastern highlands of the country. Adoption of improved agricultural technologies is one of the most important issues to insure food self-sufficiency as well as food security. However, the adoption and dissemination of improved agricultural technologies are constrained by many factors. The aim of this study was to examine factors affecting adoption and intensity of adoption of improved bread wheat production technology. Multistage sampling techniques were employed. Using a systematic random sampling technique, 168 household heads were taken as sample respondents. Structured interview schedules, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews were used as primary data collection instruments. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistical analysis; mainly Chi-square test, F-test, and Pearson correlation were employed. A Tobit econometrics model was also employed with the help of statistical software. The results revealed that household heads sex, level of education, active labor force members, total land holding size, access to credit, participation in training, exposure to mass media, and frequency contact of extension agents were found to have a significant influence on adoption and intensity of adoption of improved bread wheat production technology. The overall finding of this study underlines the importance of institutional support in the areas of extension services and facilitating access to credit in order to enhance the adoption of new technologies. Therefore, the bureau of agriculture and other development practitioners should give focus to strengthening institutional support to improve the adoption of bread wheat technology. Keywords: Adoption, Technology, Bread Wheat, Tobit model DOI: 10.7176/FSQM/97-07 Publication date: May 31 st 2020

Promotion of Highland Maize Varieties to the Selected Districts’ of Arsi Zone Oromia, Ethiopia

Promotion of hybrid and OPV highland Maize varieties were conducted to highly monocropping system of wheat belt of districts of Arsi zone.The study was carried out from for two years (2016 &2017) with active participation of farmers in collaboration with district bureau of agriculture. A total of 92 farmers from six major maize potential districts namely Hetosa, Arsi-negele, Chole, Guna, Arsi-robe, Aminga & Seru were trained and a plot of land,0.25 ha was used for each farmer and supplied with two varieties (Kolba and Jibat) in the first year and another two varieties(Hora &Jibat) in the second year. The analysis result indicated that Kolba variety has given the highest average grain yield (62.92Qt) followed by Jibat variety (58.78Qt) and Hora variety (53.1Qt) scored third in average grain yield. Crop technology demonstration has given a good impact over the farming community as they were motivated by recommended technology in that case the full package (68.28Qt/ha) out produce 17% more than the farmers’ practice which is 56.65Qt/ha and farmers also could produce greater than 28% as to the national average, which is 39Qt/ha .The acceptance of these varieties was huge during the study seasons which clearly suggests the positive impact of demonstration over farmer’s practices and highland maize in Arsi zone is found to be one of the best technologies and recommended to more scale out activity with best performed highland maize varieties in areas where it is not introduced. Keywords: Arsi Zone , highland maize, promotion, varieties DOI : 10.7176/DCS/9-4-04 Publication date : April 30 th 2019

Factors constraining rural households’ use of mobile phones in accessing agricultural information in Southern Ethiopia

This study examined factors constraining the use of mobile phones in accessing agricultural information by rural households in southern Ethiopia. A survey was employed to collect data from 320 randomly selected respondents. The result revealed that variables such as age, level of education, annual income, money spent on mobile phone per day; farm distance to the nearest town, ownership of mobile phones, mobile phone having handset FM radio and information need and seeking behaviour were important factors that affect the use of mobile phones in communicating agricultural information. The Bureau of Agriculture should consider these identified factors when designing strategies for dissemination of agricultural information using mobile phones.

"Value Chain Analysis of Red Pepper: The Case of Abeshge District, Guragie Zone, South Ethiopia"

The study was conducted at Abshige Woreda to analyze the value chain of red pepper and the factors that determine the supply of red pepper to the market. The study has duly focused on the market channel, market participants and performance of red pepper markets. The main determinants of volume of red pepper supply were also analyzed. The data were generated by structured questionnaire, focus group discussions, key informant interviews and field observation focus. This was augmented by secondary data collected from the Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development, Woreda marketing agency reports and websites. Traders took a total of 61.3% out of the total profit margin. Red pepper producers added 38.7% of the total value of red pepper in the woreda.