Background Preschool children are the most vulnerable group because of their high nutritional needs for growth and development. The study assessed dietary diversity scores and associated factors among preschool children in selected kindergarten schools of Horo Guduru Wollega Zone, Western Ethiopia. Methods The institutional-based cross-sectional study design was conducted on a total 440 of preschool children. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect information on the dietary diversity score of preschool children using a 24 h dietary recall method. Binary logistic regression was used to identify variables associated with dietary diversity scores of preschool children. Results The result showed that the majority (87.3%) of preschool children in the selected kindergarten school practiced a low dietary diversity score (less than four food groups). The result obtained from multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that the age of preschool children [AOR 9.58(2.26–40.60)], sex of child [AOR 3.21(1.71–5.99)], and work of mother [AOR 7.49(2.33–24.07)] were significantly (p < 0.05 associated) with dietary diversity of children. Conclusions The findings indicated that many preschool children in the study area did not get a minimum dietary diversity score. Therefore, health extension workers must organize community-based behavior change nutritional education for mothers or caregivers to create awareness of preschool child dietary diversity practices.

Gender is a crosscutting issue that attracts the attention of development professionals, policy makers and politicians. It is due to the fact that in any development, interventions involvement of women has become compulsory. To this end, considering the roles of men and women is very important, and gender roles vary across culture. In Ethiopia where agriculture is the backbone of the economy, the participation of women in the field is very high. Though men are taking the lion's share in agricultural production, the contribution of women has also been an undeniable fact. Rural Ethiopian women must work up to twice as many hours per day compared to men, since they are primarily responsible for their households, including gathering firewood and water, cooking, cleaning, and providing child care. The contribution of women to agricultural and food production is significant but it is impossible to verify empirically the share produced by women. This paper reaffirms that women make essential contributions to agriculture and rural enterprises across the developing world. But there is much diversity in women's roles and over-generalization undermines policy relevance and planning.

Seed producer cooperatives were initiated by the Integrated Seed Sector Development Program in five regions of Ethiopia including Oromia region since 2009as an alternative mechanism to narrow the gap between seed supply and demand in the country. Seed marketing is one of the key activities of the program to satisfy the demand of farmers by providing quality seeds in the right place, at the right time and with the right price for sale. Therefore, this study was designed to analyze market performance of potato seed through producer cooperatives in Haramay, Kersa and Chiro districts of Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia by identifying factors affecting potato seed market supply and its intensity. Three stage sampling procedure was used to select potato seed producer households. In the first stage, kebeles in the three districts were categorized into two: those with and without Seed Producer Cooperatives. In the second stage, kebele administrations with Seed Producer Cooperatives were purposively targeted from each district. In the third stage, households in the sample kebeles were stratified into two: member and non-member households. Finally, all farm households who are members of Seed Producer Cooperatives (157) in the sample kebeles were included in the sample. The Tobit model was used to analyze the data. The result of the analysis indicated that Haramaya district, literacy status, family size, extension contact, households' perception to price offered by cooperatives and distance from cooperative market center are the significant factors affecting members' potato seed market supply through cooperatives. Based on the findings, policy interventions like cooperatives capacity building, providing adult education, awareness creation on family planning, provision of extension service and accessible cooperative market center are suggested and forwarded.