College of Dryland Agriculture and Natural Resources Management

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    Analysis of Potato Value Chain and its impact on farming household’s economic welfare: The case of Tsaeda-Emba Woreda, Eastern Zone, Tigray Regional State
    (Mekelle University, 2025-04-17) Yemane Kidane Reda
    Various project-based initiatives including those led by the International Potato Center (CIP) have been implemented to upgrade the potato value chain in the region. However, despite these targeted interventions, the actual contribution of potato production to the welfare of smallholder producers remains inadequately understood. Therefore, further efforts were made to empirically examine how potato value chain impacts households’ income and consumption expenditure to improve our understanding of the welfare implications of the crop. The study aimed to identify actors and their roles, analyze benefit distributions of actors, assessing the impacts of potato value chain on households’ economic welfare. For this study 137 potato producers, 137 nonproducers were randomly selected, 5wholesalers, 3collectors, 9 retailers and 5 small scale processors were purposefully selected. Value chain mapping was used to identify actors, their roles and linkages. Endogenous switching regression model was employed to identify determinants of participation decision and to analyse welfare impacts through Average Treatment effect on the Treated (ATT) estimates in potato value chain business. The identified key actors in potato value chain were input suppliers, producers, wholesalers, collectors, retailers, small scale processors and consumers. Main supporting actors were office of agriculture and rural development, micro finance institutions, (union) cooperatives, trade and market development office, Mekelle Agricultural Research Centre, NGOs and banks that found in the woreda. The results of economic analysis revealed that 86% profit goes to small scale potato processors and 5.8% profit margin was captured by potato producers respectively. The rest actors (collectors, wholesalers and retailers) received profit margins of 2.4%, 1.5% and 4.3% respectively. The results of ESR model analysis showed that gender, farming experience, access to credit, irrigation cooperative’s membership, demonstration sits visit, listening to radio programs, and access to irrigation influenced participation decision significantly and positively. Age, family size, training frequency, food shortage experiences affected potato participation decision negatively. Economic welfare of potato producers’ is much higher than non-producers’ because their annual income, annual consumption expenditure, food consumption score and household diet diversity score is increased by 50.7%, 48.7%, 13.7% and 23.3% respectively.
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    Evaluation of potato (Solanum tuberosum L) genotypes for yield and agronomic traits under irrigation in southern Tigray, Ethiopia
    (Mekelle University, 2025-06-13) Desta Abadi
    Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is most important food crop in Ethiopia, and understanding its genetic variability is crucial for improvement efforts. However, research evaluating genotypes for yield and agronomic traits under irrigation in specific regions remains limited. This study aimed to assess the performance of 15 potato genotypes across 16 quantitative traits under irrigated conditions in Maichew and Emba-Alaje woredas during the 2024/2025. Randomized Complete Block design, with three replications was employed, utilizing plots of 3m x 3m with a spacing of 75 cm between rows and 30 cm between plants. Significant interaction effect was observed among the genotypes for most traits. The highest total tuber yields were recorded for G12 CIP302498.72 (48.94 t ha-1), G3 CIP397029.21 (48.71 t ha-1) and G2 CIP312923.637 (48.49 t ha-1) at Maichew while the lowest yield was noted for G13 CIP312920.599 (14.27 t ha-1) at Emba Alaje. Correlation analysis revealed positive associations between total tuber yield and Plant height (r=0.43), marketable tuber yield (r=0.99), unmarketable tuber number per hill (r=0.34), marketable tuber number per hill (r=0.68) and total tuber number per hill (r=0.58). Conversely, a negative correlation was observed with days to maturity (r= -0.47). Principal component analysis results revealed that the first three components accounted for 75.09% of the total variability (PC1:37.16%, PC2:23.98%, PC3:13.98%). Hierarchical clustering grouped the genotypes into five distinct clusters based on yield and quality traits. These findings highlight significant genetic variability among the evaluated potato genotypes. Given that the study was conducted over a single growing season at two locations, further research involving multiple seasons and locations is recommended to validate these results and assess factors such as late blight resistance in the southern zone of Tigray and similar agro-ecological areas.
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    Effects of Time of Earthing up and Varieties on Growth, Yield and Quality of Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) in Southern Zone of Tigray, Northern
    (Mekelle University, 2025-06-16) Berhe Tsegay Hishe
    Potato is the fourth largest food crop globally, following rice, wheat, and maize. In Ethiopia, it serves as both a food and cash crop, playing a vital role in improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, especially in the highlands. However, productivity remains low due to factors such as limited knowledge on optimal agronomic practice particularly time of earthing up and the use of low yielding varieties. This study evaluated the effects of time earthing up time and varieties on growth, yield and quality of potato. The experiment was conducted under irrigation from February to June 2024 in Southern Tigray, Northern Ethiopia, using a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with factorial combinations and three replications. Treatments included four time of earthing up (Control, 15, 30, and 45 days after complete emergence) and three varieties (Local/Tebeb, Gudenie, and Belete). Results showed that the time of earthing up and varieties, and also their interaction effects had showed significantly influenced (P < 0.05) on growth, yield and quality parameters. Earthing up at 15 days after complete emergence was recorded the tallest plants (81.02 cm), the highest average tuber weight (52.62 g), number of large size (22.59), specific gravity (1.220) and dry matter content (24.40%), lowest number of unmarketable (4.4) and number of greening tubers (1.669) compared to the control (no earthing) and late earthing up. Gudenie recorded the highest number of stem (10.750), plant height (79.20cm), number of large size tuber (18.06), weight of large size tuber (1136.8 g), dry matter content (22.86%) and the lowest number of unmarketable tuber (2.683) that compered to local (Tebeb) varieties. The combination of Gudenie variety with 15 days earthing up was obtained highest total tuber number (33.80), total tuber yield (31.90 t/ha) and marketable yield (31.11 t/ha), whereas the lowest marketable yield (10.89) and total tuber yield (14.05) was from the combination of local (Tebeb) with no earthing up. Correlation analysis revealed strong positive relationships between average tuber weight and both marketable (r=0.791) and total tuber yield (r=0.84), whereas greening negatively affected on yield performance. Economic evaluation demonstrated that the Gudenie variety, when earthed up at 15 days after complete emergence, achieved maximum profitability, with a net benefit of 1,185,496 ETB/ha and a marginal rate of return of 1,520%. These findings suggested that the combination of Gudenie with 15 days earthing up was recommended for potato production in the study area and similar agroecological zones. However, further research across multiple locations, seasons, and years was necessary to validate and generalize these recommendations.
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    Evaluation of Potato (Solanum tubersum L.) Varieties for Growth and Yield under Different Planting Dates in the Lowlands of Raya Azaebo, Tigray, Northern Ethiopia.
    (2025-03-13) Haftamu Habte Zeferu
    Potato plays a crucial role in food security, poverty alleviation, and income generation in Tigray, particularly in the lowland areas of Raya-Azebo. However, its productivity remains low mainly due to the lack of suitable varieties and inappropriate planting dates. This study aimed to identify the optimal planting date and variety for improving potato yield and yield components in the lowland areas of Raya Azebo, Tigray. The experiment was conducted using three planting dates - October 17, November 2, and November 17- and three potato varieties (Belete, Gudane, and Jaleni), arranged in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications . Data on phenological, yield and yield related parameters were collected and analyzed using GenStat version 18. The results showed that planting date had a significant effect (P<0.001) on days to emergence, flowering, maturity, number of tubers per plant, average tuber weight, tuber diameter, total tuber yield, marketable and unmarketable tuber yields. Variety also significantly affected numbers of tubers per plant, average tuber weight, marketable yield and total tuber yield. Moreover, the interaction between planting date and variety significantly influenced days to emergence, number of tubers per plant, average tuber weight, tuber diameter, total tuber yield, and marketable tuber yield. Potato varieties planted on October 17th matured early. The Belete variety, planted on 2nd November, produced the highest marketable tuber yield (290.4 q ha-1) while the Jalenne variety, planted on November 17, had the lowest yield (156 q ha-1). Marketable tuber yield was negatively correlated with phenological traits, but showed a strong positive association with growth parameters, and yield components. Generally, planting potatoes during the first three weeks of October resulted in the highest marketable and total tuber yields, with November 2nd being the optimal planting date. It is recommended that smallholder farmers and the private sector adopt this planting date for improved potato production in lowland areas of Raya Azebo