This study aimed to analyze the seed potato systems in Ethiopia, identify constraints and prioritize improvement options, combining desk research, rapid appraisal and formal surveys, expert elicitation, field observations and local knowledge. In Ethiopia, informal, alternative and formal seed systems co-exist. The informal system, with low quality seed, is dominant. The formal system is too small to contribute significantly to improve that situation. The informal seed system should prioritize improving seed quality by increasing awareness and skills of farmers, improving seed tuber quality of early generations and market access. The alternative and formal seed systems should prioritize improving the production capacity of quality seed by availing new varieties, designing quality control methods and improving farmer's awareness. To improve overall seed potato supply in Ethiopia, experts postulated co-existence and linkage of the three seed systems and development of self-regulation and selfcertification in the informal, alternative and formal cooperative seed potato systems.Resumen Este estudio tuvo el propósito de analizar los sistemas de producción de papa en Etiopia, identificar limitantes, y priorizar opciones de mejorar, mediante la combinación de investigación de escritorio, apreciaciones rápidas y estudios formales, encuestas a expertos, observaciones de campo y conocimiento local. En Etiopia co-existen sistemas de semilla informal, alternativo y formal. Domina el sistema informal, con baja calidad de semilla. El sistema formal es muy pequeño como para contribuir significativamente al mejoramiento de esa situación. El sistema informal de semilla debería tener como prioridad el mejoramiento en la calidad de la semilla mediante el aumento en la atención y habilidades de los productores, mejorando la calidad de la semilla-tubérculo de las generaciones tempranas y el acceso al mercado. Los sistemas alternativo y formal de semilla deberían priorizar el mejoramiento en la capacidad de producción de semilla de calidad, mediante la validación de nuevas variedades, el diseño de métodos de control de calidad, y mejorando la atención del productor. Para mejorar el suministro general de semilla de papa en Etiopia, los expertos postularon la co-existencia y asociación de los tres sistemas de semillas y el desarrollo de autorregulación y autocertificación en los sistemas cooperativos de semilla de papa informal, alternativo y formal.

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SUMMARYEnset (Ensete ventricosum) production is declining, and it faces genetic erosion due to drought, diseases and population pressure. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and additional formal survey studies on 315 households were conducted over three consecutive years (1998 ±2000) in the Sidama, Wolaita and Hadiya ethnic regions of southern Ethiopia to assess traditional cultivation methods, analyse the production systems, and evaluate farm-based enset biodiversity. The regions differ in terms of cultural background, resources, farming systems, population density, and agro-ecology. Furthermore, the methods for initiating suckers and the frequency of transplanting vary among the three regions.Diverse enset landraces were identi®ed in the Sidama (52), Wolaita (55) and Hadiya (59) regions. Sidama farmers had the highest number of landraces per farm, 57% and 21% more than found on Wolaita and Hadiya farms respectively. In all three regions, landrace diversity was in¯uenced by household resources, cultural background, population pressure, and agro-ecology. There were signi®cant differences in the average number of enset landraces and livestock between rich and poor households in the three regions. Rich farmers had more land and manure-producing livestock, and they planted more enset landraces than did poor farmers. In all three regions, women proved to be more experienced than men in identifying enset landraces.The number of enset landraces per farm was signi®cantly correlated with other household characteristics for resource-rich Sidama farmers and with the number of livestock and area of farmland for resource-rich Hadiya farmers. This suggests that middle-income or poor farmers concentrate on annual crops, rather than on growing the perennial enset plant. More research is needed to identify, characterize and conserve genetic diversity, and to improve the cultivation practices for enset. The cultural, socio-economic, and gender-associated aspects of enset cultivation need to be assessed to understand the dynamics of enset biodiversity. introdutionThere are four major farming systems in Ethiopia: pastoralism, shifting cultivation, the seed-farming complex, and the enset (Ensete ventricosum)-planting complex

The kocho yield of enset, in terms of weight and energy, under different crop establishment methods, was investigated at Areka Research Centre, southern Ethiopia, and compared with the yields of other main starch crops grown in the country. The maximum fresh weights of kocho after fermentation from enset plants transplanted once (Tl), twice (T2) or thrice (D) were 25.9,54.1 and 37.1 kg plant-I, respectively. When yield was expressed per unit of space and time, the maximum fresh yields of fermented kocho (70% moisture) from Tl, T2 and D were 19,33 and 26 t ha-I )'1, respectively.The kocho yield of enset per unit space and time, in terms of edible dry weight and energy, was much higher than the yields of any other crop cultivated in Ethiopia. Second to enset, the root and tuber crops also produced high yields of dry matter and energy. The cultivation of enset and root and tuber crops in densely populated areas under low input conditions can sustain the population better than that of other crops. Moreover, enset produces various byproducts and the prolonged presence of a closed canopy has an ecological advantage similar to that of forest.

Soil fertility is one of the main constraints to agricultural intensification in Ethiopia. Like in many East African countries, nutrient depletion rates are exacerbated in Ethiopia by high erosion rates, biomass and animal manure removal from farm plots and limited application of mineral and organic fertilizers. In this paper, soil nutrient balances at plot level were calculated for 350 farms spread across the high potential highlands of Ethiopia. The nutrient input flows and output flows were monitored over a period of 3 years (2012-2014) using the monitoring for quality improvement toolbox. Average nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) balances were -23 ± 73, 9 ± 29 and -7 ± 64 kg ha -1 , respectively. The situation was most severe for N, where average depletion rate was 0.2 % of the soil total N stock per year, which equals about 4.2 % of the available soil N pool. Depletion rates were highest in the relative intensive farming systems in mountainous areas located in the central and southern parts of Ethiopia. Nutrient depletion rates increased in time with 13, 3 and 10 kg ha -1 year -1 , respectively for N, P and K during the monitoring period. The Ethiopian government responds to the on-going, and worsening, soil nutrient depletion by stimulating the use of mineral fertilizers. We conclude that the current efforts on increased inputs of mineral fertilizers are a step in the good direction, but to really halt and reverse soil fertility decline, organic fertilizer application and soil and water conservation should be an integral part of the intervention strategy.