Abstract: This study was aimed to analyze technical efficiency of potato production by smallholder farmers in Dinsho district, Bale zone of Oromia region. The study used a cross sectional data obtained from a field survey using structured questionnaire from a random sample of 149 smallholder potato producers in the study area. The hypothesis test result showed that Cobb-Douglas production function was found to satisfactorily fit the data. A Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier production analysi...
Abstract: The impact of climate change and variability on livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Ethiopia has become severer than ever before. As a result, weather index based insurance has been advocated as one of the recommended risk transfer mechanisms to support farmers in coping with production risks. The objectives of this study were to assess the risk coping mechanisms, the willingness to pay for weather index based insurance, and the factors influencing smallholder farmers’ willingn...
Abstract: In the last two decades, the smallholder crop production in Ethiopia has enjoyed relative growth in acreage, output, and number of growers, but productivity has remained low. In Ethiopia, there are different empirical studies on efficiency analysis in different agroecologies, the results shows that there is significant difference in technical efficiency and inefficiency variables. What is scarce in the literature is that their conclusion is not consistent with one another. Therefor...
Abstract: The aim of the study was to evaluate productive and reproductive performance of indigenous and their crossbred dairy cows owned by farmers and factors affecting their performance in Agarfa district of Bale Zone, Oromia Regional state. A total of 120 household dairy cows’ owners were selected from four kebeles and interviewed with pre-tested structured questionnaire to obtain information related to husbandry practices, animal productivity and feed resource. Out of this, 40 Dairy f...
Abstract: Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is an important source of food and income in East Hararghe Zone, Ethiopia. However, the extent of its on-farm diversity and conservation by smallholder farmers is not well known and no sufficient information is available on the characteristics of the genotypes for production and breeding purpose. Likewise, maize is a highly productive, multi-purpose crop and the cheapest source of calorie among the cereals and it is well-suited for diverse croppi...
ABSTRACT Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), an annual grain legume is a hardy crop well adapted to semi arid areas. Information on optimum fertilizer rates and plant population density has not been developed for the semi arid areas of Kenya. This study conducted in Feb-June 2005 (1st season) and June-October 2005 (2nd season) at National Animal Husbandry Research Centre (NAHRC), Naivasha, determined the effect of applying four different nitrogen fertilizer rates (0, 20, 40 and 60 kg/ha) and four...
BSTRACT This study aimed at assessing the impact of climate change on traditional irrigation farming systems and adaptation strategies was conducted in Lushoto District. The specific objectives were to establish the trend and magnitude of climate change in the study area for the past 30 years (1985-2014), to assess the impact of climate change on crop yield in Ndiwa and Chamazi traditional irrigation farming systems, to analyse the way traditional irrigation farmers‘ adapt to climate change...
ABSTRACT Introduction of cocoa-agroforest in the Gwira Banso forest concession necessitates the following research questions: what evidence is there on the viability (profitability) of the proposed cocoa-agroforest practice? What are the short-tenn and long-term cash flow implications and how suitable are they to the farmers who are dependent on the forestland for their livelihood? How can farmers’ knowledge on industrial use of timber trees, prices of timber trees, production and sale of t...