Ethiopian Informer
ADDIS ABABA (EI): The Ethiopian government has hailed indigenous wheat varieties’ greater drought-resistant and high-yielding results.
The Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute disclosed that it is working to register four high-yielding indigenous wheat varieties, which demonstrated excellent results after field testing. According to state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporation, the Institute’s CEO for Agricultural and Horticultural Research, Woubshet Teshome, stated that these four varieties were selected from a pool of approximately 80.
The identified varieties can produce up to 58 quintals per hectare while requiring only a quarter of the soil fertilizer used by existing, high-performing wheat seeds.
In addition to their high productivity, the institute said the identified indigenous varieties have proven resistant to drought and fungal pests like wheat blight.
According to the institute, the indigenous wheat varieties have also shown a greater capacity to withstand moisture during heavy rainfall.
Woubshet elaborated that the varieties were tested using the existing knowledge of farmers through seed banks established by the Institute. During recent droughts, when other varieties failed, these selected wheat types were sown for two consecutive years and still yielded up to 15 quintals per hectare.
The institute said it is currently finalizing the recording of the specific characteristics of these improved indigenous wheat varieties so they can be distributed to farmers.
(Archive Photo shows new improved varieties of malt barley raise the bar for yield and incomes for smallholder farmers in Ethiopia)
