Agronomic and Economic Evaluation of Wheat-Chickpea Double Cropping on the Vertisol of Takusa, North Western Ethiopia

Takusa district in north Gondar zone has a high potential for double cropping per one growing season. Farmers in the area, however, do not practice double cropping so far, a reflection of lack of research outputs that addressed its feasibility. The objective of this study was, therefore, formulated around the need to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of double cropping in the area using wheat-chickpea. Experiments were established at Takusa district during the 2015 main cropping season. The trials were laid down in factorial arrangement of randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Three bread wheat varieties (Senkegna, Tay and Dinknesh) and two chickpea varieties (Habru and Natoli) were used. The combined data showed that, wheat variety Dinknesh took the shortest days to mature (81 days) compared to Senkegna and Tay (97 days each) varieties. The highest thousand seed weight and grain yield was observed on variety Denknesh and has significance difference at P<0.05 with the other two varieties. Sole planting of Natoli (2926 kg/ha) and Habru (2103kg/ha) chickpea varieties gave relatively higher yield when compared with their respective double cropping combination. The Marginal rate of return (MRR) result showed that double cropping Natoli chickpea variety with Denekinesh wheat variety had 104% MRR. The land equivalent ration demonstrated double cropping rewards to a maximum of 1.99, implying the yield and benefit maximization per unit area per season. The highest grain yield in the double cropping system was obtained with Dinknesh wheat variety (2709kg/ha) double cropped with Natoli chickpea variety (2562 Kg/ha) and this combination could be recommended for similar agroecologies

Characterizing Ethiopian cattle production systems for disease burden analysis

This paper addresses knowledge gaps in the biomass, productivity and value of livestock for the pastoral, mixed crop-livestock and specialized dairy systems in Ethiopia. Population size, reproductive performance, mortality, offtake and productivity of cattle were calculated from official statistics and a meta-analysis of data available in the published literature. This information was then used to estimate biomass and output value for 2020 using a herd dynamics model. The mixed-crop livestock system dominates the Ethiopian cattle sector, with 55 million cattle (78% total population) and contributing 8.52 billion USD to the economy through the provision of meat, milk, hides and draft power in 2021. By comparison, the pastoral (13.4 million head) and specialized dairy (1.8 million head) systems are much smaller. Productivity varied between different production systems, with differences in live body weight, productivity and prices from different sources. The estimated total cattle biomass was 14.8 billion kg in 2021, i.e., 11.3 billion kg in the mixed crop-livestock system, 2.60 billion kg in the pastoral system and 0.87 billion kg in the specialized dairy system. The total economic asset values of cattle in the mixed crop-livestock, pastoral and specialized dairy systems were estimated as 24.8, 5.28 and 1.37 billion USD, respectively. The total combined output value (e.g., beef, milk and draft power) of cattle production was 11.9 billion USD, which was 11.2% of the GDP in Ethiopia in 2021. This work quantifies the importance of cattle in the Ethiopian economy. These estimates of herd structure, reproductive performance, productivity, biomass, and economic value for cattle production systems in Ethiopia can be used to inform high-level policy, revealing under-performance and areas to prioritize and provide a basis for further technical analysis, such as disease burden