Presentation by Dr. Bedada Girma (EIAR, Ethiopia) at Wheat for Food Security in Africa conference, Oct 9, 2012, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

1. Bedada Girma, Firdissa Etich1, Solomon Gelalcha, Ayele Badebo,
Getaneh Woldeab, Fekadu Fufa, Bekele Abeyo, Ravi Singh,
Sridhar Bhavani, Osman Abdala, and Gordon Cisar

2. Introduction
 Wheat production in Ethiopia
 Major food-security crop produced on about 1.5 ml ha
 Wheat is faced with serious periodical threats from rusts
 Yellow & stem rusts are major threats in East Africa
 The 2010 yellow rust epidemic in Ethiopia caused
considerable yield losses

3. Introduction
Wheat producers
 95% of wheat producers in Ethiopia are small farmers
 Small farmers suffer from limited use of improved
technologies and low productivity
 Small farmers are not fully protected from the rusts
 The cheapest means to protect farmers: Rust resistant/
tolerant varieties

4. Development of
rust resistant
wheat varieties:
Approaches
 Crossing, introduct’n,
screening, selection,
testing
 Two cycles per season
 Joint evaluation &
advancing
 PVS, VVT, release, seed
increase
Int’l & Nat'l wheat scientists at Kulumsa station, Oct 2011

5. Development of
rust resistant
wheat varieties:
Approaches
 Regular & seasonal
visits from Int’l
scientists facilitate
sharing of experiences
and information
ICARDA and Ethiopian breeders happy with performance
of advanced lines at Kulumsa, Ethiopia

6. Participatory variety selection: Approaches
PVS at Kulumsa station (L) and on-farmer at Huluko village (R),
Munessa district, 2010
PVS Groups: Superior lines: Candidates for
 Women farmers, further testing or release
 Young farmers,
 Elder farmers

7. Participatory variety selection
Women PVS group in Burkitu
village Selection criteria
 Yield potential
 Spike length
 Number of seeds/spike
 Plant height- straw factor
 Seed color- market value
 Baking quality
 Disease resistance- stay green
 Frost resistance
 Earliness for low moisture
stress area

8. Tech. promotion approaches
Demonstration on station Demonstration on-farm

9. Training and promotion of rust resistant wheat
varieties: Approaches
Training : Gimbichu district Training: Digelutijo district
 60-130 farmers/district Training of farmers, development
 1-2 DA/village + supervisor agents, and supervisors is key to
 Gender sensitive success of new technology
promotion

10. Training areas
 Variety development and
selection
 Agronomic practices
 Crop management
 Post harvest care
 Gender issues
 Marketing & saving

11. Farmer-preferred rust resistant wheat
varieties
Highland types Mid to lowland types
 Digalu
 Danda’a  Kakaba
 ET-13  Pavon-76
 Madawalabu  Shorima
 Huluka  Ogolcho
 Hidasse

12. Promotion of rust resistant wheat
varieties: Approaches
Seed multiplication: Digalu Seed multiplication: Danda’a

13. Promotion of rust resistant wheat
varieties: Approaches
Household head farmer in Well managed Digalu variety
her field- Gimbichu district near Inawari town

14. Farmers come from far places to attend
field days

15. Technology promotion: Farmers’ field days

16. Outputs and impacts
Training produced cadre of
small farmers ready for  Many copy farmers- neighbors
change and beyond
PVS, based on peer
discussion, enhanced
 Improved yield and quality from
integration and community new varieties; seed access at
togetherness
village level
Farmer preferred new
varieties  Well managed fields; high yields
& market focused production

17. Outputs and impacts
Yield performance of Danda’a Yield performance of Kakaba
Farmer, Plot, Yield/plot, t/ha Farmer Plot, Yield/ t/ha
ha ton ha plot, t
Malasa A. 0.25 2.6 10.4 Kabada G. 0.25 1.6 6.4
Getu W. 0.25 2.4 9.6 Kabada J. 0.25 1.2 4.8
Dabale S. 0.25 1.8 7.2 Gamada D. 0.25 1.15 4.6
Sisay T. 0.25 1.6 6.4 Worknesh A. 0.25 1.1 4.4
Batrii E. 0.25 1.5 6.0 Amino U. 0.25 1.1 4.4

18. Seed yield data from farmers’ fields in 2011
District Variety #farmers Total Yield Mean Seed for
area, ha range, ton yield, t/ha 2012, ton
Arsirobe Danda’a 10 2.5 1.05-2.6 6.38 16
Digelutijo Danda’a 10 2.5 1.2-1.6 5.96 15
Gimbichu Danda’a 10 2.5 1.32-1.52 5.73 14
Arsirobe Kakaba 5 1.25 1.0-1.6 4.76 6
Total 35 8.75 51

19. Certificate of appreciation

20. Conclusions
 International research collaboration has effectively
slowed down the spread of Ug99 across the globe and
avoided catastrophic damage to wheat production.
 Free access to int’l wheat germplasm, testing network
across regional countries, and enhancing national
wheat breeding programs will contribute to generation
of wheat technologies for the small farmers.
 Small farmers can make a difference in ensuring food
security for the households and the community if
given the minimum support they need.

21. Conclusions
 “Our farmers are easily getting 6-7 t/ha after you
introduced Digalu variety to our district in 2009”.
Mr. Getu, Head, Arsirobe District Bureau of Agriculture
 “We have more than tripled our yields after we started
using the new rust resistant varieties, thank you for the
training and support; 2-3 t/ha is now history”. Small
farmers of Arsirobe district, 2011 Field Day
 “Investing in small farmers is the most powerful way to
fight hunger and poverty”. Bill Gates

22. So for the small farmers, the NEW VARIETES mean:
Rust protection
High yield
High income
Food security
Improved livelihood

23. Special meal for special guests

24. acknowledgements
 EIAR Mgmt / KARC for administrative support
 BMGF/ Cornell/ DRRW
 CIMMYT/ICARDA/
 USAID/FAO/AGRA/EAAPP
 Farmers & wheat researchers
 Extension staff of 9 districts
 Seed producers- private and public
 Mr. Asefa W/Michael (pensioner, now deceased):-
disseminated resistant wheat varieties into Munessa
district & saved thousands of small farmers from the
2010 yellow rust epidemic.

25. Technical experts & advisors to small farmers

26. THANK YOU