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Research & Reviews : Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology

Cluster Based Large Scale Demonstration of Improved Maize Technologies at Gurage Zone and Yem-Special District, Southern Ethiopia

  1. Lakamo Liben
  2. Tadele Hirgo
  3. Aklilu Atinafu Atinafu

Abstract

MaizeisastaplefoodforfarmersintheGurageZoneandYemSpecialDistrict.Acluster-basedlarge-scaledemonstrationofimprovedmaize(BH661)wasconductedduringthe2021main cropping season intheChahaandYemDistrictsoftheGuragezoneinsouthernEthiopiatofurtherdemonstratetheimprovedmaizetechnology.Themainpurposewastodemonstrateona wider scale.PotentialkebeleswereselectedfromeachDistrictbasedoncroptechnologygaps.Therefore,85farmerswereselectedfromtwodistrictscoveringanareaof21hectares.Beforeconductingthedemonstration,thefarmerwasorganizedintoaFarmerResearchGroupand119participants(85farmersand34otherstakeholders)weretrained. ImprovedseedswereprovidedbytheWorabeAgriculturalResearchCenter,and fertilizers andpesticideswereprovidedbyfarmers.Theseedingratewassetat25kgha-1,therowspacingat80cm,theplantingintervalat40cm,andthefertilizerapplicationrateatNPSat100kgha-1andUREAat100kgha-1.Manualweedingandothermanagement practicesweredoneasneeded. Awareness creation, grain yields, and farmers'perceptionswereanalyzedusingmean,percentages, and standard deviations.Asaresult,themean grainyieldinChahaandYem-Special Districts was 6,400kgha1and6,034kgha1respectively.Todemonstratetheperformanceofthemaizedemonstrated,fielddayswereheldineachdistrictwiththeparticipationofvariousinterestgroupstoexchangeexperiences.Basedonthefeedback,demandforthistechnologywascreatedbyparticipatingfarmersandstakeholders.Therefore, the study areas’ advisorysystemsareencouragedtomakeanimprovedmaizevariety(BH661),alongwithrecommendedtechniquesandpractices,availabletothewidercommunity.

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