Wheat Varietal Diversification Increases Ethiopian Smallholders’ Food Security: Evidence from a Participatory Development Initiative

Abstract

This study assesses the impact of a participatory development program called Seeds For Needs, carried out in Ethiopia to support smallholders in addressing climate change and its consequences through the introduction, selection, use, and management of suitable crop varieties. More specifically, it analyzes the program’s role of boosting durum wheat varietal diversification and agrobiodiversity to support higher crop productivity and strengthen smallholder food security. The study is based on a survey of 1008 households across three major wheat-growing regional states: Amhara, Oromia, and Tigray. A doubly robust estimator was employed to properly estimate the impact of Seeds For Needs interventions. The results show that program activities have significantly enhanced wheat crop productivity and smallholders’ food security by increasing wheat varietal diversification. This paper provides further empirical evidence for the effective role that varietal diversity can play in improving food security in marginal environments, and also provides clear indications for development agencies regarding the importance of improving smallholders’ access to crop genetic resources.

Chickpea production restored through upscaling crowdsourcing winner varieties and planting date adjustments in the Ada’a district, East Shoa zone, Ethiopia

“…Varietal portfolio effectively addresses location-speci c emerging challenges and farmers' preferences (Bishaw and Alemu 2017). Thus, increasing crop genetic diversity is a noble adaptation strategy in agriculture; especially for marginal environments and vulnerable areas to climate-related risks (Gotor et al 2021).…”

Pathways and policy options for food and nutrition gaps in arid agricultural farming systems in the Tigray Region, north Ethiopia

“…The second important dimension of food and nutrition security is stability, which is directly linked with the effects of shocks on livelihoods and the ability to recover easily or pushed into a poverty trap. Therefore, households adopt different livelihood strategies to cope with the negative impacts of the shocks [ 82 , 5 ]. These strategies may include selling assets, withdrawing savings, migrating, seeking temporary employment, withdrawing children from school and reducing the diversity of the diet, reduce consumption, etc [ 83 , 84 ].…”

“…These strategies may include selling assets, withdrawing savings, migrating, seeking temporary employment, withdrawing children from school and reducing the diversity of the diet, reduce consumption, etc [ 83 , 84 ]. To build resilience and reduce vulnerabilities, households adopt strategies both ex-ante and ex-post measures [ 85 ], such as diversification and adoption of improved varieties (early maturing, and/or late maturing based on the context of weather variabilities) [ 82 ]. Therefore, the aim of this study is to show the current status of food and nutrition security in Tigray taking in to consideration socio-economic differences, gender, vulnerability to climate change and access to best practices and innovations, and what this means for food and nutrition security.…”

Socioeconomic Determinants of Crop Diversity and Its Effect on Farmer Income in Guangxi, Southern China

“…Lower profit associated with crop diversity may be because each crop is planted at a smaller scale, thereby losing scale-dependent efficiencies [33]. In addition to income, crop diversity may also affect other aspects of poverty such as food security [13,34]. Hence, the relationship between crop diversity, farmer livelihood and risk needs to be studied in a variety of ecological and societal conditions, and particularly in biodiverse areas in which crop diversity may also play a role in natural biodiversity conservation.…”