The Eleventh Regional Wheat Workshop For Eastern ... - Cimmyt

On-farm analysis ofdurum wheat production technologies - Kenea et al.
(Kilinto) or better than Boohai (Quami and Foka), while ET-13 was rated to be the least
resistant. Maturity wise, Quami and Foka were rated to be late maturing followed by Boohai.
ET -13 and Kilinto were rated to be equally early maturing ones.
CONCLUSIONS
This study revealed that there was no significant grain and straw yield differences between
the new and check varieties. However, with respect to disease resistance, Boohai variety was
reported to be susceptible to leaf rust disease (DZARC, 1996). This indicated that the new
varieties are better than Boohai in their disease reaction and thus there is a need to replace
Boohai with these resistant varieties. Farmers also rated the new varieties better in terms of
disease resistance, grain quality for some local dishes, and straw quality for feed. Given these
merits of the new varieties, demonstration and dissemination of the new varieties is
commendable. Given the disease resistance, farmers' priority is, however, yield or income
maximization, and other criteria are somewhat secondary as there are alternative means of
coping with some of them. Farmers indicated that the new varieties are not better than the
currently widely grown bread wheat varieties like Kubsa and Pavon. This difference is
explained by the tetraploid nature of durum wheat, whose yield as a result is generally lower
than bread wheat, which is a hexaploid. Although farmers expect that the new varieties will
fetch the same price as other durum wheat varieties, which is often greater than the price paid
for bread wheat in the domestic markets, this price advantage of the durum wheat varieties is,
however, not sufficient to surpass the yield advantage of bread wheat. Therefore, to ensure
wider adoption of these varieties or durum wheat technologies in general, policies that
improve the price margin for durum wheat need to be in order. One means is promoting
strong horizontal linkage between the local processing industries and the farming sector.
Until recently, this linkage is either non-existent or very weak, as most processing industries
depend for their raw material need on imports from abroad. There is lack of awareness by the
local processing industries about the quality standard and for some even the availability of
durum wheat in the domestic market. Thus, awareness creation through research product fairs
for processing industries will play an essential role leading to increased demand in the local
market.
The study also revealed that with improved practice the hew varieties provided a grain and
straw yield advantage and were economically more feasible cf. the local practice. As a result,
demonstration of the improved practice is also commendable. However, as the results at
Minjar and other locations further indicate the possible agronomic and economic feasibility
of reduced and additional nitrogen, respectively, beyond the given experimental range, a
further fine tuning study both on station and on farm to determine the optimum nitrogen
fertilizer application is suggested.
REFERENCES
CIMMYT. 1988. From Agronomic Data to Farmer Recommendations: An Economic Training Manual.
Completely Revised Edition. Mexico, D. F.: CIMMYT.
Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Center (DZARC). 1997. AIIDual Research Report, 1994/95. Debre Zeit,
Ethiopia.
Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Center (DZARC). 1989. Annual Research Report, 1988/89. Debre Zeit,
Ethiopia.
Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Center (DZARC). 1996. Annual Research Report, 1993/94. Debre Zeit,
Ethiopia.
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