Sweet Potato Agronomy Research in Ethiopia: Summary of Past Findings and Future Research Directions

Abstract

Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam) is economically important food crop in Ethiopia. Since its introduction, numerous agronomic research activities were carried out in agricultural research centers, non-governmental organizations and universities. The objective of this piece of work is to document available research findings in a usable manner and present it to first national sweet potato workshop held between 6-7 June 2013, SARI head quarter, Awassa, Ethiopia. Agronomic research has been carried out on preparation of planting materials, curing vine cuttings, planting methods, depth of planting, plant density, planting time, cropping systems, and etc. Results showed that sweet potato crop has a potential of 50 to 60 t/ha in Ethiopia and the length of vines to be used for planting shall be 30 to 40 cm. Weeding trials elaborated that weeding twice on 30-40DAS and 70DAS regardless of the study sites would suffice for the crop. Planting date experiments justified early planting with the onset of rainfall in non irrigated fields. However, the results of population density and fertilizer regimes varied across locations and varieties. Thus generation and promotion of site specific recommendations are of paramount importance for root crops like sweet potato.

Sweet Potato Value Chain Analysis Reveals Opportunities for Increased Income and Food Security in Northern Ghana

“…Sustainable interventions should be identified to increase the number of seed multiplication gardens to generate enough certified seed to meet the demand gap. Somehow, these constraints are similar in other studies in Ethiopia [3], Ghana [9], Tanzania [12], and Kenya [20]. Lack of improved seed was mentioned as the major limiting factor to the expansion of sweet potato farms in an earlier study in Northern and Upper West Region [9].…”

“…Access to quality seed especially during the critical period of planting was a critical problem in Kenya [20]. Although sweet potato has a yield potential above 50 to 60 t/ha in Ethiopian conditions, yield obtained from farmer's field is about 6 to 8 t/ha [3]. This variation has been attributed to biotic and abiotic stresses, lack of improved cultivars, and weak attitude of farmers toward sweet potato technologies as well as lack set of a packaged agronomic recommendations.…”

“…Over the last two decades or more, sweet potato has gained prominence due its short growth cycle and ability to survive in diverse agroecologies and water stress soils [3,4]. These traits project sweet potato high among resource-poor farmers as yields of 15 to 50 t/ha can be obtained with minimum use of external inputs.…”

Gender situational analysis of the sweetpotato value chain in selected districts in Sidama and Gedeo Zones in southern Ethiopia

“…For example, Shonga et al (2013), Nicole et al (1997, Adane (2010), Tewodros et al (2011) and Mitiku et al (2013) all focus on pests and diseases. Research has been conducted also on how to increase crop yields through improved agronomic practices such as ensuring optimum spacing between plants and rows (Abdissa et al, 2011;Markos and Loha, 2016), planting methods, and vine harvesting techniques (Ahmed, Nigussie-Dechassa. and Abebie., 2012).…”

Growth and Yield Response of Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas L. Lam) Varieties to Lowland Agro-Ecology of Raya Azebo, Ethiopia

“…Sweet potato has large, starchy, sweet-tasting and tuberous roots which adapts to tropical and warm temperate regions [10]. High dry matter content is the main characteristic preferred by consumers and processors of sweet potato [11].…”