Appraisal of the Sesame Production Opportunities and Constraints, and Farmer-Preferred Varieties and Traits, in Eastern and Southwestern Ethiopia

Abstract

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is an important oilseed crop with well-developed value chains. It is Ethiopia’s most valuable export commodity after coffee (Coffea arabica L.), contributing to socioeconomic development. The productivity of the crop is low and stagnant in Ethiopia and other major sesame growing regions in sub-Saharan Africa (<0.6 t/ha) due to a multitude of production constraints. The objective of this study was to document sesame production opportunities and constraints, as well as farmer- and market-preferred varieties and traits, in eastern and southwestern Ethiopia as a guide for large-scale production and breeding. A participatory rural appraisal (PRA) study was conducted in two selected sesame growing regions and four districts in Ethiopia. Data were collected from 160 and 46 sesame farmers through semistructured questionnaires and focus group discussions. Sesame is grown by all respondent farmers in the study areas for food and as a source of cash. Most respondent farmers (56%) reported cultivating sesame using seeds of unknown varieties often sourced from the informal seed sector. About 83% of the respondents reported lack of access to improved seeds as the most important production constraint, followed by low yield gains from cultivating the existing varieties (reported by 73.8% of respondents), diseases (69.4%), and low market price (68.8%). Other production constraints included insect pests (59.4%), lack of market information (55%), and high cost of seed (50%). The above constraints were attributed to the absence of a dedicated breeding programme, lack of a formal seed sector, poor extension services, and underdeveloped pre- and postharvest infrastructures. The most important market-preferred traits of sesame included true-to-type seed (reported by 36.3% of respondents), white seed colour (28.8%), and high seed oil content (23.8%). The vital farmer-preferred attributes included reasonable market price (reported by 11.3% of respondents), resistance to crop diseases (10.9%), drought tolerance (10.3%), resistance to crop insect pests (9.2%), higher seed yield (8.9%), higher thousand-seed weight (7.2%), higher oil content (6.3%), white seed colour (6.1%), early maturity (6.1%), and good oil qualities such as aroma and taste (5.7%). Therefore, there is a need for a dedicated sesame genetic improvement programme by integrating the above key production constraints and market- and farmer-preferred traits to develop and deploy new generation varieties to enhance the production, productivity, and adoption of sesame cultivars in Ethiopia.

Finger Millet Production in Ethiopia: Opportunities, Problem Diagnosis, Key Challenges and Recommendations for Breeding

“…The mean grain yield of improved finger millet varieties in Ethiopia is low at 2.7 t/ha [30], compared with 4.74 and 4.79 t/ha reported for Kenya [31] and India [32], respectively. Ethiopia is the primary centre of origin and diversity for finger millet [33]. The finger millet landraces grown by farmers are essential genetic resources that are known to hold useful genetic variation for desirable traits.…”

Scoping study on Ethiopian sesame value chain

“…Farmers use local sesame cultivars and majority of them do not apply fertilizer (Gedefa, 2010;H. G. Hailu & Mezegebo, 2021;Teklu et al, 2021;Yalew et al, 2020). Research confirmed that the yield of new sesame variety can reach up to 1254 kg (or 1.3 ton)/haunder rainfed conditions (Ahmed, 2008;Habibullah et al, 2021) and 2797.6 kg (or 1.8 ton)/ha under irrigation (Hailu et al, 2018).…”

“…Sesame production is susceptible to different biotic and abiotic stresses (Pathak et al, 2014). Weather and price fluctuation, and shortage of finance and poor technology adoption have great implications for sesame production and marketing in Ethiopia (Teklu et al, 2021). Studies have reported that sesame growing farmers have been heavily challenged by weather fluctuations due to the global climate change (Taffesse et al, 2012).…”

The Sesame (<i>Sesamum indicum L.</i>) Value Chain and Microbiological Quality of Crude Sesame Oil, a Case Study in Western Tigray, Ethiopia

“…The global sesame production is about 2.211,339 million tons. Sesame production in Ethiopia is about 262,654 tons by 2019 (307 million USD) [4] about 8.96% share in the global sesame market [5]. Sesame productivity in western Tigray is within the range of 2044 kg/ha -400 kg/ha while highly variable with and without the application of insecticides 651 kg/ha, average [5] variability with sesame breed, plantation location, use of fertilizers and agricultural practices with an average yield obtained 400 kg/ha [4].…”

“…Sesame production in Ethiopia is about 262,654 tons by 2019 (307 million USD) [4] about 8.96% share in the global sesame market [5]. Sesame productivity in western Tigray is within the range of 2044 kg/ha -400 kg/ha while highly variable with and without the application of insecticides 651 kg/ha, average [5] variability with sesame breed, plantation location, use of fertilizers and agricultural practices with an average yield obtained 400 kg/ha [4]. Sesame productivity yield is as high as 2044 kg/ha [6] and (1161.5 kg/ha -756.5 kg/ha) regardless of the variation of cultivation year, varieties and agro-climatic condition [7].…”