Potential and limitations of smallholder seed production in Ethiopia: the case of Soro District
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Date
2002
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
While the majority of smallholder farmers use traditional ways of ensuring their
livelihood, small-scale farming is the most important sector of agricultural production
in Ethiopia. With increasing effort of the Extension Package Program, farmers started to
adopt improved seeds. However, the supply of improved seeds to small-scale farmers
by the formal sector was not sufficient. To alleviate the seed shortage, the Smallhlode
Seed Production (SHSP) program has been implemented as one of the alternatives to
produce and supply seeds to small-scale farmers. This study examined the potential and
limitations of smallholder seed production. A cross-sectional survey method was used
for this study and respondents were selected randomly. Data were collected using an
interview schedule for farmers, self-administered questionnaires for extension workers
and other seed professionals, checklists for informal discussions with farmer groups and
co-operative committee members as well as using personal observations. Likert-type
interview items were also employed to determine opinions of farmers, extension
workers and seed professionals. Data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social
Sciences (SPSS) and descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages and cross
tabulation were used. The findings from has a potential the analysis show that SHSP in Ethiopia for increasing seed availability and
improving seed distribution at prices that small-scale farmers can afford. However, the findings indicate that it has limitations such as producing low quality
seed, lack of ready market for produced seeds, inadequate supply of credit and lack of
integrated efforts among organisations that can contribute a lot to the sustainability of
SHSP.The study recommends the selecting of farmers that are interested and ready to
devote their money, labour and skills for quality seed production. As seed quality7 was
the major problem indicated by users, reinforcing the technical skills of farmers is
important to improve the seed quality, beside this, close supervision and field inspection
together with laboratory' analysis should be done. To ensure the sustainability of SHSP
and to alleviate the problem of market, strong linkages and co-ordination with ESE.
fanners' co-operatives and other concerned organisations should be created.
Description
The Degree of Master of Science in Agricultural Education And Extension
Keywords
Smallholder seed production, Seed production, Produced seeds, Soro District, Ethiopia