Faba bean is an important pulse crop in area coverage and volume of annual production in Ethiopia. However, the productivity is still far below its potential mainly due to the emerging faba bean gall disease. This study, therefore, aimed to evaluate and demonstrate the integrated disease management options of using a combination of Noble 25 WP fungicide and moderately disease-resistant varieties. The treatment arrangement was designed as an un-replicated simple block considering farmers as replications. Foliar application of Noble 25 WP fungicide was used at a rate of 1 kg ha −1 using 400 l ha −1 water. The agronomic, economic, and farmer preference data were collected and analyzed in descriptive statistics. The result revealed that the highest grain yield of 3.96 tons ha −1 was obtained from a sprayed plot of Gora variety and had an overall yield advantage of 130.8% over farmers' unsprayed local variety under the existing practice. Besides, the highest final faba bean gall disease percent severity of 45.6% was recorded from the unsprayed control plots. Using a combination of Gora improved variety with foliar application of the fungicide reduced the severity of the disease by 59.3% compared with that of the sprayed local variety. Similarly based on the partial budget analysis result, the highest (783.8%) marginal rate of return was obtained from the use of Yehuala Kassa ABOUT THE AUTHOR Yehuala Kassa is an Agricultural extension and Socioeconomics researcher in Debre Birhan Agricultural Research Center, Amhara Agricultural Research Institute, Ethiopia. He obtained his BSc degree in the field of Rural Development and Family Science from Hawassa University in July 2011. He then received his MSc degree in the field of Rural Development Management from Bahir Dar University in March 2019. His research interest mainly focuses on agricultural extension, technology promotion, and agricultural value chain and technology adoption studies. Previously he has published the

Using lupin as a break crop and for soil fertility improvement is one of the practices to enhance productivity and improve soil fertility in Ethiopian conditions. However, the use of this practice by smallholder farmers is limited. Therefore, the major objective of this study was to empirically examine factors influencing farmers' decision to allocate land for lupin crop production as a break crop in North Western Amhara Region of Ethiopia. In this study, stratified sampling procedure was used to select 253 sample households from four Districts (137 household who use lupin in their crop rotations and 116 that do not). The required data were collected using interviews with a structured questionnaire. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors influencing farmers' decision to allocate land for lupin production as a break crop. The results of the logit regression analysis indicate that family size, total farmland holdings and contacts with extension workers were the most important factors influencing the decision of the farmer to practice crop rotation with lupin. Hence, emphasis should be given to improve the human capital through training and providing extension service to bring farmers' awareness to practice improved technologies and best indigenous knowledge.

Gender is one of the crosscutting and the prime importance of any development plan and intervention. Rural women play vital roles in agricultural activities to reduce poverty and food insecurity. This study focuses on gender equality in the access and control of agricultural and rural household resources by rural women. The study was conducted in Bassonawerana, Kewot, and Moretinajiru districts of Northern Shewa Zone Amhara region Ethiopia. Data were collected using individual interviews, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions. A total of 252 respondents were selected using purposive sampling, categorical, and then simple random sample selection techniques. Descriptive statistics and Harvard analysis techniques were used to assess the access, control, and utilization of agricultural and household resources in rural areas. Most of the respondents were married. 95% of the study households depend on agricultural activities of crop and livestock farming. The average family size was 5 in which 3 of them were involved in agricultural activities. The average level of education for the households was 2.5 years. Women were involved in on-farm and off-farm income-generating activities but most women had limited access to extension services and agricultural-related training. The benefits of different resources were shared by all family members equally except institutional resources. Poultry was predominantly owned by women while other livestock resources and land resources were owned by both men’s and women’s family members. Provision of women-targeted training and agricultural extension services focused on how to access and control institutional and household resources are vital to enhance their access to institutional resources and improve the production and productivity of women in the rural household and the entire community for livelihood and food security improvements.

Background: Chickpea seed supply is limited for a local level farmer to the farmer seed exchange systems. The scale-up was conducted in the vertisol potential areas of North Shewa Zone of Amhara Region to create wider demand for improved chickpea varieties, strengthen the linkage among the possible actors and enhancing technology multiplication and dissemination to improve its productivity. Methods: Naatolii, Mastewal, Arerti and Habru improved chickpea varieties were introduced and more than 393ha of land was covered and about 826 farmers were accessed through delivering more than 49.3 tons of improved seed. Result: The productivity of chickpea in the area was boosted to 2.61tons ha-1 and yield advantage of 73% to 97.7% was obtained from improved varieties compared to the local cultivar. As a result of this intervention, many farmers benefited easy access to improved seeds of different chickpea varieties through direct seed marketing and farmer to farmer seed exchange.

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