በሀዋሳ ዩኒቨርሰቲ የም
ጋር በመተ
HAWASSA UN
DIRECTOR
OARI progress report on N2Africa bridging
year in Ethiopia (2013)
Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa
Zerihun Abebe, OARI
N2Africa Ethiopia Launch Workshop, ILRI
27-28 February 2014

PRESENTATION OUTLINES
 PROJECT ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN IN 2013
1. CB Diss/Demo, Input & Variety Trials
2. SB Diss/Demo, Input& Variety Trials
3. FB Diss/Demo, Input & Variety Trials
 PROMOTION ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN
 LEASSON LEARNT
 CHALLENGES
 WAYS FORWARD IN TO 2014

R- P-
Anger
R+ P+, Anger
R- P-
Nasir
R+ P+, Nasir
Baby trial plot, Mr. Bedasa Mosisa, Oda haro kebele, Bako tibe district, 09/08/13
DEMONSTRATION TRIALS FOR CB

Inside of a functional nodule
+R +P Common bean var. Nasir
-R -P Common bean var. (Nasir)
-R -P and +R +P Commonbean var. (Nasir)

Soil fertility variation in addition to agronomic management across targeted farmers
? (GL × RS) × E xM
100
450
800
1150
1500
1850
2200
2550
2900
3250
3600
3950
4300
4650
100 450 800 1150 1500 1850 2200 2550 2900 3250 3600 3950
Nasir(-P+ -R)
Nasir(+P+ +R)
Anger(+P+ +R)
Anger (-P+ -R)
yield (kg/ha)of Nasir variety without input application
yield(kg/ha)CBwith-veand+veinputs

Common bean was significantly responded to the inputs
Nasir variety more responded to +P and R+ than Anger
Common Diss/Demo trials at Bako Tibe district,2013
34%
144%

0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
5000
1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00
Nasir(-P+ -R)
Nasir(+P+ +R)
Anger (-P+ -R)
Anger(+P+ +R)
Organic carbon(%)
Grainyield(kg/ha)
OC has +ve correlation with Grain yield
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
5000
0 2 4 6 8 10
Nasir(-P+ -R)
Nasir(+P+ +R)
Anger (-P+ -R)
Anger(+P+ +R)
Available P(mg kg-1)
Grainyield(kg)
P has linear correlation with yield
 Soil Organic carbon and available P correlated with yield
Thus, improvement of the soil carbon and pH are crucial

Field performances of CB input trials
R+ P+
R+ P--R+ P-
R- P+
CB input trial

Significant effect on grain yield
55-85%

CB variety trial

Result summery of baby and mother trials
on soybean at Gobu Sayo,2013

Ethio(- P+R-)
Ethio( P+R+)Didesa(- P+R-)
Didesa((P+R+)

134 pods per plant
Litter fall cover the soil
+P +R+-P +R-
At harvesting

0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000
Didessa (+P+ +R)
Didessa (-P+ -R)
Ethio (+P+ +R)
Ethio (-P+ -R)
Grainyield(kg/ha)
yield of Didesa( kg/ha) with -P+R-
Land history

45% 19%

Other promotion
activities

Awareness Creation for host farmers before planting
45 house holds were participated

220 males 65 females
Exchange field visits ( 3 sites)

Methods of Inoculants application

125 Male + 25 Female at O/haro
55 M + 15 F at T/sangota
95 M + 10 F at D/dima
We trained Inoculation method

distributed 400
IN ENGLISHIN AFAN OROMO

Worry for
bean market
Farmers assure that monocropping is
common practices
Farmers’ Perception

CHALLENGES
 Critical shortage of vehicle
 Shortage of training (long and short)
 Problem of soybean value chain
 Extreme variability in soil fertility ( 80% farm field is <
5 pH of soil)
 Mono cropping practices
 Serious disease problem ( Chocolate spot of FB)
 Inefficient inoculants on FB
 Un adequate and untimely budget release
 Untimely start of the project ( late planting)

LESSON LERNT
 inoculants are promising in enhancing bean
yield
 Yield variability across the farmers’ field is high
 Both P and inoculants are important for common
bean, but P rate is low
 Different CB,FB and SB varieties respond
differently, best varieties were identified
 OC and available P are +vely correlated with
bean yield ( improvement is important)
 Soil acidity management is critical issue
 Farmers were aware to use inoculants

Way forward for 2014
 Early start and procurement of the input
materials as much as possible
 Further scaling up
 Issue of soil acidity management
 Revision of P application rates
 Strengthen approaches of scaling up( e.g
innovation plot form)
 Focus on value chains for soybean
 Improving soil OC
 Focus for FB disease and compatible inoculants