Role of Enhanced Crop Productivity in Agrobased Development of Ethiopia: Future Perspectives

Abstract

The government concerns have shifted from earlier emphasis on raising foreign exchange earnings by cash crops and the establishment of large-scale commercial farms and neglected cereal production from subsistence farmers which accounted more than 80% of the cultivated area. During the 1974–1991, by large towards increasing productivity of smallholders to attain food self-sufficiency at national level through research-generated information and technologies, increasing the supply of industrial and export crops and ensuring the rehabilitation and conservation of natural resource base. However, population growth, environmental degradation, climate-related decline of yield, low level of farm input innovation, capital constraints are among the pressing constraints. The direction, the rate of change and the level of steps the agriculture sector taking up on the ladder of transformation to commercialized agriculture from its initial subsistence. Of course, it should be noted that, except for the progress made during the last two and half decades, the agricultural sector in Ethiopia had remained stagnant for centuries with limited progress in few specific areas. Consequently, the outcome of the suggestion made in this paper is believed to serve as problem area indicators for concerned stakeholders to develop and implement corrective measures that could help to accelerate the speed of transforming the existing agriculture into profitable agriculture. Crops such as maize, teff, and wheat within the category of cereals have shown an increment that ranges from 1.65 qt/ha to 23.21 qt/ha for maize; from 0.48 qt/ha to 19.89 qt/ha for teff; and from 1.16 to 13.21 qt/ha for wheat over the last five years (2013/14-2017/18). Similarly, crops such as faba beans and linseed have shown an increment that ranges from 0.36 to 14.91 qt/ha for faba beans and from 3.60 to 25.67 qt/ha for linseed over 2013/14 and 2017/18 estimates following the same pattern, the results of the 2018/19. It is hoped and expected that these yield increments would rise further in future with the commitment and adoption of suggestions forwarded in this paper.