Potatoes and livelihoods in Chencha, southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Potato is highly productive crop and can provide a cheap and nutritionally-rich staple food. Its potential as a cash generator and source of food is much under-utilized in many emerging economies. In this paper we study the impact of an intervention that introduced improved potato technologies in Chencha, Ethiopia on the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. We collected information through in-depth interviews in order to explore possible pathways of impact on farmers' livelihoods; and used this information as the basis for designing a household survey. The results show changes in agronomic practices and consumption; these changes were most pronounced among wealthy farmers who participated in the intervention. Farmers used the additional income from potato in different ways: wealthier farmers improved their houses and increased their livestock, whereas poor farmers mainly invested in furniture, cooking utensils, tools and in developing small businesses like selling and buying cereals, milk and weaving products in the local markets. Some wealthy farmers, who did not participate in the project, also derived some indirect benefits from the intervention. This underscores: i) interventions that promote uniform farming technologies in themselves are not always sufficient to improve the livelihoods of poor farmers, and ii) the need to broaden the scope of interventions so as to take into account the resources available to farmers in different wealth categories, and the diversity of strategies that they employ for improving their livelihoods. Our approach allows to understand and describe the different developmental effects of a single technological intervention on the different aspects of farmers' livelihoods.

Responses of Canopy Growth and Yield of Potato Cultivars to Weather Dynamics in a Complex Topography: Belg Farming Seasons in the Gamo Highlands, Ethiopia

“…The Gamo Highlands, a topographically pronounced region in southern Ethiopia, is a region with a high potato production potential [19,29,35]. The crop is best grown in a long growing season and with high incoming radiation, between~12 and 24 MJ•m −2 •d −1 , average daily temperature between 5 and 21 • C, precipitation between 600 and 1200 mm per annum depending on the climate of a location [36,37]; and in a soil with good water-holding capacity and sufficient nutrient availability [13,38,39].…”

Observational Characterization of the Synoptic and Mesoscale Circulations in Relation to Crop Dynamics: Belg 2017 in the Gamo Highlands, Ethiopia

“…Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is becoming an important crop in Ethiopia [1,2]. The optimal climatological conditions for potato crop growth are 15 to 25 • C mean daily temperature [3][4][5][6].…”

Weather and crop dynamics in a complex terrain, the Gamo Highlands – Ethiopia : Towards a high-resolution and model-observation based approach

“…The crop is also grown in tropical mountainous regions all over the world (Haverkort, 2018;Haverkort and Struik, 2015). Recently, potatoes are becoming popular and are considered as a key crop to improve food security, especially in the developing countries (FAO, 2008b;Lutaladio and Castaldi, 2009;Struik et al, 2014;Tadesse et al, 2018). Potato is considered as a 'hunger breaker' because of its short crop cycle (Struik et al, 2014;Tadesse et al, 2018) and it can give yield in situations in which other crops might fail (Lutaladio and Castaldi, 2009).…”

“…Recently, potatoes are becoming popular and are considered as a key crop to improve food security, especially in the developing countries (FAO, 2008b;Lutaladio and Castaldi, 2009;Struik et al, 2014;Tadesse et al, 2018). Potato is considered as a 'hunger breaker' because of its short crop cycle (Struik et al, 2014;Tadesse et al, 2018) and it can give yield in situations in which other crops might fail (Lutaladio and Castaldi, 2009). The crop has a number of advantages over cereals: harvest index of greater than 75% (as compared with 40% to 60% for cereals) (DeFauw et al, 2012;Haverkort, 2018;Haverkort and Struik, 2015); relatively low water requirements (George et al, 2018;Haverkort and Struik, 2015;Pandey et al, 2012); mostly consumed by local to national markets (Lutaladio and Castaldi, 2009;Tadesse et al, 2018); improving small-holder farmers' economy (DeFauw et al, 2012) and high nutritional values but a healthy diet with low fat content (Lutaladio and Castaldi, 2009;Oerke and Dehne, 2004;Tufa, 2013).…”

“…Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is becoming an important crop in Ethiopia (Minda et al, 2018b;Tadesse et al, 2018). The optimal climatological conditions for potato crop growth are 15 to 25 °C mean daily temperature (FAO, 2008b;Khan, 2012;Streck et al, 2007;Tsegaw, 2005).…”