Cost-benefit Analysis of New Tef (Eragrostis tef) Varieties under Lead Farmers’ Production Management in the Central Ethiopia

Tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter] is the most important food crop in Ethiopia. It is annually cultivated on over three million hectares of land, which is equivalent to 30% of the total area allocated to cereals in the country. Compared to other cereal crops, such as wheat and maize, tef has higher tolerance to unfavorable environmental conditions, which include both biotic and abiotic stresses. Since the inception of Tef Improvement Program in Ethiopia in the late 1950s, the National Research System has released 42 improved varieties. However, cost of production and economic benefit derived from tef farming was not clearly understood. Thus, a study was carried out in the field plots of 46 lead farmers in four districts (namely, Ada’a, Gimbichu, Moretna-Jirru, and Minjar-Shenkora) where tef is the major cereal crop in order to assess the economics aspects of the tef faming venture. Two recently released tef varieties Kora and Boset were used for the study. On average, the total variable cost of production was 19,308.70 birr ha-1 for Kora and 18,859.27 birr ha-1 for Boset. Although the average grain yield was 1,963.00 kg ha-1 for Kora and 2,540.00 kg ha-1 for Boset, it ranged from 1,200 to 2,500 kg ha-1 for Kora and from 2,000 to 2,800 kg ha-1 for Boset. Kora was sown at appropriate agro-ecologies that receive better rainfall but Boset gave higher yield as a result of climate change and erratic rainfall in 2016. The average profit was 22,676.43 birr ha-1 for Kora and 35,721.12 birr ha-1 for Boset. The two highest production costs were labor (58%) and fertilizer (22%). From the total labor costs used in tef production, the lion’s share went to harvesting (43%) and weeding (35%). The study revealed that harvesting and weeding are the most critical factors to escalate cost of production, and thereby to decrease its profitability. Thus, technologies should be sought to minimize cost of labor for harvesting and for weeding in tef production.

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Author Bekele Abate, Chanyalew Solomon, Damte Tebkew, Husien Nigussu, Genet Yazachew, Assefa Kebebew, Nigussie Demeke and Tadele Zerihun
Maintainer EIAR
Last Updated December 30, 2023, 20:25 (UTC)
Created March 18, 2023, 12:50 (UTC)
contributor Getachew, Meron
creator Bekele Abate, Chanyalew Solomon, Damte Tebkew, Husien Nigussu, Genet Yazachew, Assefa Kebebew, Nigussie Demeke and Tadele Zerihun
date 2023-01-11T00:00:00
harvest_object_id d99ee645-e7a9-4fb5-b13f-efbcf256284c
harvest_source_id b7467cdf-8775-49cd-b162-b68283e0d13b
harvest_source_title EIAR Open Research Data
identifier https://doi.org/10.20372/eiar-rdm/FEAS1U
metadata_modified 2023-01-11T07:00:01