Assessment of farmers’ perceptions of production constraints, and their trait preferences of sorghum in western Ethiopia: implications for anthracnose resistance breeding

Figures & data

Figure 1. Map of Ethiopia showing the study sites.

Table 1. Number of producers, cultivated areas, total production and yield of sorghum in some selected zones in Oromia Regional State of Ethiopia (CSA 2017).

Zones	HHLDs	Area (hectare)	Production (tonnes)	Yield (tonnes ha^-1)
East Wellega	96,874	36,605	111,254	3.0
Ilu Aba Bora	176,052	41,595	120,150	2.9
Jimma	210,037	50,155	124,397	2.5
West Shewa	162,643	72,176	220,888	3.1
West Wellega	235,942	63,816	191,358	3.0

Note: HHLDs = Households; ha = hectare.

Table 2. Number of sampled farmers for individual interview and focus group discussion in selected districts and peasant associations of the East Wellega and West Shewa Zones.

Zones	Districts	Peasant associations	No. of interviewees			No. of focus group discussants
			Female	Male	Total	Female	Male	Total
East Wellega	Diga	Arjo	3	12	15	3	13	16
		Bech Bech	–	15	15	–	16	16
	Sibu Sire	Jarso Wama	2	13	15	2	14	16
	Wayu Tuqa	Boneya Molo	3	12	15	3	13	16
		Gara Hudha	–	15	15	–	16	16
West Shewa	Bako Tibe	Amerti Gibe	–	15	15	–	18	18
		Gudina Welqite	2	13	15	2	14	16
	Dano	Kersa Dorane	2	13	15	2	14	16
		Seyu Gudetu	1	14	15	1	15	16
	Illu Gelan	Obera Benesu	–	15	15	–	16	16
		Refso Qameno	1	14	15	1	17	18
Total			14	151	165	14	166	180

Table 3. Proportion (%) of respondents’ sex, age, family size and level of education in the study districts.

Variables	Districts						Mean
	Bako Tibe	Illu Gelan	Dano	Sibu Sire	Wayu Tuqa	Diga
Sex
Male	93.3	96.7	90.0	86.7	90.0	90.0	91.5
Female	6.7	3.3	10.0	13.3	10.0	10.0	8.5
Chi-Square test	df = 5		X^2 = 1.87		P-value = .87
Age of household head (year)
≤29	33.3	36.7	26.7	40.0	36.7	16.7	30.9
30–50	46.7	46.7	70.0	53.3	46.7	60.0	53.9
≥ 50	20.0	16.7	3.3	6.7	16.7	23.3	15.2
Chi-Square test	df = 10		X^2 = 11.13		P-value = .35
Number of children
≤ 2	–	–	–	–	–	3.3	0.6
3–5	23.3	6.7	26.7	26.7	50	36.7	28.5
≥ 5	76.7	93.3	73.3	73.3	50	60.0	70.9
Chi-Square test	df = 10		X^2 = 20.08		P-value = .03
Education status
Illiterate	3.3	16.7	23.3	46.7	13.3	10.0	16.4
Read and write	20.0	10.0	10.0	20.0	13.3	23.3	15.8
Grade 1–5	46.7	40.0	40.0	26.7	36.7	46.7	40.6
≥Grade 6	30.0	33.3	26.7	6.7	36.7	20.0	27.3
Chi-Square test	df = 15		X^2 = 22.07		P-value = .11

Note: df = Degrees of freedom; X²= Chi-Square; P = Probability.

Figure 2. Mean area of farm land (ha) allocated for different crops grown in 2015/2016 cropping season in the study districts.

Table 4. Comparison of management practices and yields of major cereal crops grown in the study districts of East Wellega and West Shewa Zones in western Ethiopia.

		East Wellega					West Shewa
Crop	Management practice and yield	Mean	SD	Std.E	Df	t-value	Mean	SD	Std.E	Df	t-value
Maize	DAP fertilizer (kg ha^-1)	97.3	24.6	2.9	71	33.5**	101.7	23.3	2.5	87	40.9**
	Urea fertilizer (kg ha^-1)	147.6	59.1	7.0	71	21.2**	159.7	57.2	6.1	87	26.2**
	Ploughing frequency	3.6	0.7	0.1	71	45.6**	3.8	0.6	0.1	87	55.7**
	Yield (ton ha^-1)	4.0	1.1	0.1	71	30.3**	4.5	1.2	0.1	87	35.9**
Sorghum
	Seeding rate (kg ha^-1)	12.1	4.0	0.5	69	25.1**	12.4	3.7	0.4	70	27.9**
	DAP fertilizer (kg ha^-1)	4.6	18.5	2.2	69	2.1*	12.3	31.0	3.7	70	3.3**
	Urea fertilizer (kg ha^-1)	4.1	18.0	2.1	69	1.9ns	1.6	8.5	1.0	70	1.6ns
	Ploughing frequency	2.3	0.7	0.1	69	28.8**	2.3	0.7	0.1	70	27.5**
	Yield (ton ha^-1)	2.0	0.9	0.1	69	20.0**	2.2	0.7	0.1	70	21.3**
Tef
	Seed rate (kg ha^-1)	22.2	11.1	1.8	36	29.9**	28.2	11.9	1.4	73	20.4**
	DAP fertilizer (kg ha^-1)	35.6	32.0	5.3	36	6.8**	60.3	37.2	4.3	73	13.9**
	Urea fertilizer (kg ha^-1)	26.4	28.2	4.6	36	5.7**	35.5	31.8	3.7	72	9.5**
	Ploughing frequency	3.9	0.8	0.1	36	29.9**	4.1	0.8	0.1	73	45.3**
	Yield (ton ha^-1)	0.9	0.3	0.04	36	21.8**	1.1	0.4	0.04	73	22.7**

Notes: *P < .05; **P < .01; ns = non-significant; SD = Standard deviation; Std.E = Standard error; Df = Degrees of freedom and DAP = Diammonium phosphate.

Table 5. Proportion of farmers (%) who grow diverse crops for their various roles in western Oromia Regional State of Ethiopia.

Crops	Home consumption		Income source		Not labour intensive		Tolerant to moisture stress		Suppress weeds
	ES	WS	ES	WS	ES	WS	ES	WS	ES	WS
Sorghum	29.7	28.9	5.4	2.2	47.3	42.2	67.6	65.6	70.7	53.9
Maize	23.0	25.6	28.4	25.6	10.8	6.7	6.8	20	4	7.9
Tef	13.5	34.4	8.1	35.6	2.7	8.9	4.1	10	0	10.1
Finger millet	29.7	3.3	–	–	1.4	2.2	12.2	–	1.3	–
Wheat	–	1.1	–	–	–	1.1	–	–	–	2.2
Haricot bean	–	1.1	1.4	–	2.7	1.1	–	1.1	–	1.1
Groundnut	1.4	–	17.6	–	1.4	–	4.1	-	4	4.5
Hot pepper	2.7	5.6	18.9	13.3	–	–	–	1.1	–	1.1
Sesame	–	–	9.5	–	2.7	–	–	–	–	–
Faba bean	–	–	–	1.1	–	4.4	–	–	–	1.1
Chickpea	–	–	2.7	–	1.4	–	2.7	–	–	–
Noug	–	–	8.1	22.2	29.7	33.3	2.7	2.2	20	18
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
X^2	29.43		49.15		13.47		25.78		15.94
df	7		9		10		8		9
P-value	.00		.00		.20		.00		.07

Note: EW = East Wellega; WS = West Shewa; df = Degrees of freedom ; X²= Chi Square and P = Probability.

(–) denote no role described in respective zone/s.

Table 6. Reasons for not applying inorganic fertilizers for sorghum production by farmers in selected zones of western Ethiopia.

Reasons	East Wellega Zone		West Shewa Zone
	Frequency	Percent	Frequency	Percent
Lack of money	52	76.5	39	50.0
Lack of knowledge	14	20.6	36	46.2
Not useful for sorghum	2	2.9	2	2.6
Lack of labour	0	0	1	1.3
Total	68	100	78	100
X^2	11.91
df	3
P-value	.01

Note: df = Degrees of freedom and X²= Chi Square.

Table 7. Major socio-economic and environmental factors affecting sorghum production in western Ethiopia.

	East Wellega		West Shewa
Factors	Frequency	Percent	Frequency	Percent
Shortage of cash to purchase inputs	29	39.0	20	22.2
Limited availability of improved varieties	27	36.5	19	21.1
Late onset and early termination of rainfall	11	14.9	24	26.7
Shortage of labour	3	4.1	14	15.6
Shortage of fertilizer	2	2.7	6	6.7
Shortage of land	1	1.4	5	5.6
Declined soil fertility	0	0	2	2.2
Shortage of draft power	1	1.4	0	0
Total	74	100	90	100
X^2	21.30
df	7
P-value	.00

Note: df = Degrees of freedom and X²= Chi Square.

Table 8. Importance of diseases, insects and weeds identified by respondents as constraints for sorghum production in western Ethiopia.

Diseases	Frequency	Percent	Bird and insects	Frequency	Percent	Weeds	Frequency	Percent
Anthracnose	113	69	Birds	123	76	Raphanus raphanistrum	96	59
Head smut	34	21	Stem borer	22	14	Sorghum halepense and Eleusine indica	67	41
Leaf blight	10	6	Termite	14	9
Covered smut	4	2	Shoot fly	2	1
Grain mold	3	2
Total	164	100.0		161	100.0		163	100

Table 9. Labour sources for weeding sorghum fields in western Ethiopia.

Source	Frequency	Percent
Family labour	148	90.2
Hired workers	14	8.5
Weeding by group of farmers	2	1.2
Total	164	100.0

Table 10. Various options used by farmers to control sorghum anthracnose disease in western Oromia.

Control options	Frequency	Percent
Use of resistant landraces or introduced varieties	59	40.4
Crop rotation	25	17.1
Planting disease free seed	10	6.8
Use of fungicides	8	5.5
Improved soil fertility	7	4.8
Field sanitation	6	4.1
Report to agricultural experts	5	3.4
Land preparation with sufficient tillage frequency	4	2.7
Early planting	4	2.7
Roguing out diseased plant	3	2.1
Crop rotation	2	1.4
Weed control	2	1.4
None	11	7.5
Total	146	100.0

Table 11. Sorghum landraces and improved varieties grown by farmers in western Ethiopia with their distinguishing traits.

Landraces/variety	Preferred traits	Drawbacks
Bobe Dima	Resistant to anthracnose and other major diseases and not attacked by birds and tall stalk	Late maturing, brown/red grain color not preferable for home consumption
Bobe Adi	Early maturity and preferred for home consumption mixed well with tef flour	Susceptible to anthracnose and other major diseases, susceptible to bird and weevil and need fertile soil
Gababe	Early maturing and highly preferred for home consumption	Susceptible to anthracnose and other diseases
Lalo (released variety)	Resistant to bird attack	Difficult to thresh, unsuitable for home consumption and lower market demand
Chemeda and Gemedi (released varieties)	Resistant to anthracnose and other major diseases, creamy to light yellow grain color, good food quality and preferred for home consumption	Susceptible to bird attack

[CSA] Central Statistical Agency. 2017. Agricultural sample survey 2013/2014: Report on Area and Production of Crops (private peasant holdings, main season), Vol. 1. Addis Ababa: Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Central Statistical Agency.

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