Pre-extension popularization of Kuncho was conducted in Weri-Lekhe Wereda at Enda-Chewa and Ma’ekelawi kebelles. The study seeks to conduct demonstration of KQuncho (Dz-cr-387) varieties to the smallholder farmers and assess the performance of the varieties at farmers’ management practice. The 186 farmers (162 male and 24 female headed households) were selected purposively from the Productive Safety Net Program beneficiaries. The average grain yield obtained from KQuncho and local cultivar were 30.8 Qt/ha and 12 Qt/ha, respectively. In terms of monetary value, the beneficiary farmers were able to generate an average gross income of 49495.60 and 19,802.20 Birr/ha from KQuncho and local cultivar, respectively. The yield and income difference indicated that popularizing of best agricultural technologies to economically marginalized household boost the poverty reduction effort made by the government. Additionally, the beneficiaries preferred the improved variety in its tolerant to lodging, resistance to paste pests and disease than the local cultivar. Based on the result, the study recommends that the Governmental and Nongovernmental development collaborator should work more in scaling up and scaling out of the variety in other similar agro-ecologies.

Keywords: Improved variety, Farmers’ perception, Teff, KQuncho