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This study examines the impact of Farmer Field School (FFS) training program on farmers

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In rural Ethiopia, people consume mainly cereals and pulses. Integrating vegetables into the multi-storey cropping system of the Yayu Coffee Forest Biosphere Reserve could improve nutritional health while reducing pressure on natural habitats in the biodiversity hotspot. The aim of the study was to assess the performance of cowpea under shade and its consumer acceptance as leafy vegetables. Trials compared continuous harvesting with uprooting, and food preference was tested. A baseline survey was conducted in four villages and revealed that cropping of vegetables in coffee plantations would be adoptable by 17% of farmers. The cumulatively harvested mean leaf yield (18.15 t ha−1) was significantly higher than the leaf yield of the uprooted cowpea (6.56 t ha−1). As many as 41% (52%) of participants liked cowpea dishes (very much). Based on the trial yields and the RDA, a 25 m2 cowpea plot could produce sufficient vitamin A for 2.1–4.6 adults, iron for 0.8–1.7, and vitamin C for 1.3–2.9 adults during six months. Cowpea was successfully cultivated below coffee, yielded most when repeatedly harvested and showed a high acceptance among consumers. The consumption of cowpea leaves from coffee forests could contribute to a balanced diet and improved nutrition.

Around 40% of coffee quality is determined in the field, with the remaining 60% determined by post-harvest processing procedures. This demonstrates the significance of coffee processing in improving quality and value. As a result, this article examines the economic viability of Horizon Coffee Plantation Farm's three coffee drying methods: solar tunnel dryer, artificial dryer, and sun dryer. Several economic viability assessments and cost-benefit analyses are used. Furthermore, for each strategy, switching values and sensitivity analysis were done. According to the findings, the gross margin rate for the solar tunnel is Birr 35 per kg of green, followed by Birr 34.75 for the artificial drier machine and Birr 34.2 for the sun dryer method. Similarly, the artificial dryer method was found to be the most viable, with the highest NPV of Birr 89,292,673, followed by Birr 10,016,909 for the solar tunnel method and Birr 175,295 for the sun dryer method, implying that the firm's methods are all economically viable. The BCR and IRR criteria also confirm the same conclusion. The viability of all drying methods remains nearly constant regardless of the potential in costs of production and sales prices. Because investments in all drying methods are non-mutually exclusive, it is advised that the corporation continue to invest in all three drying methods as long as their NPV is greater than zero. However, this finding should be interpreted with caution because the present rise in fuel prices may make the use of artificial dryer methods more expensive and unviable.

It is not uncommon that different government officials and practitioners infer the fallingagricultural share in GDP to the underpinning of structural transformation in an economy. By using variousstudies result and a time series of data spanning from 1981 up to 2017, this paper investigated, whetherthe declining share of agricultural output in GDP is indicating structural transformation or not in Ethiopianeconomy. The study showed that the service is the fastest-growing sector in Ethiopia, and it covers morethan 40% of GDP. The share of agriculture sector was 45% of GDP until 2011, while the industry sector hasbeen stagnating. Thus, it shows how the falling share of the agriculture sector in GDP is being supersededby the service sector. Empirical works also reveal that even though the share of the agricultural sector inGDP is falling, it is the primary source for the overall economic growth of Ethiopia. The share of the ruralpopulation has decreased from 89 percent in 1981 to 80% in the year 2017. So the vast population of thecountry is living in rural areas where agricultural-based activities are common. Lack of labor shift from theagricultural sector to the industrial sector can also be attributed to the insufficient expansion of themodern industrial sector to absorb the growing force labor. Furth more, the demographic transition alsoshowed a relative decline. Since structural transformation involves several interrelated processes, thedeclining share of agriculture output to GDP alone cannot explain the prevalence of structural change; theother processes like; industrialization, urbanization, and demographic transition need to be scrutinized