Agro-Economic Evaluation of Alternative Crop Management Options for Teff Production in the Northwestern Highlands of Ethiopia

• Main Authors: Fekremariam Asargew Mihretie, Atsushi Tsunekawa, Nigussie Haregeweyn, Enyew Adgo, Mitsuru Tsubo, Tsugiyuki Masunaga, Derege Tsegaye Meshesha, Kindiye Ebabu, Muluken Bayable
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-03-01
• Series: Agriculture
• Subjects: compaction; drought; reduced tillage; row planting; soil moisture
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/4/298

Teff is an important crop for smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. Improved crop management practices are needed to increase teff productivity and decrease production costs. Here, we used a split–split plot design to evaluate the impacts of different tillage, sowing, and soil compaction practices, and their combinations, on agronomic performance, weed population, lodging, and cost in teff production in the northwestern highlands of Ethiopia in 2018–2020. Reduced tillage (RT) improved soil moisture, resulting in increased agronomic performance and decreased production costs compared with conventional tillage (CT); however, the weed population was substantially larger with RT than with CT. Row planting (RP) reduced seed cost and lodging but increased sowing and weeding costs compared with broadcast planting (BP). Plant population and leaf area index were substantially greater with BP than with RP during early-stage growth, but this reversed during late-stage growth. Despite labor costs being significantly greater with (WC) compaction than without (NC), little to no differences were observed in the weed population or in agronomic performance. Partial cost–benefit analysis revealed that RT–RP–WC followed by RT–RP–NC was the most economical treatment combination, suggesting that RT–RP–NC could be a labor-effective means of increasing teff production by smallholder farms in Ethiopia.