Abstract

Tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter] is a cereal crop resilient to adverse climatic conditions. Tef is the most important crop that serves as human food and has a great contribution to food security in Ethiopia, but grain yields are low. Towards enhancing the production and productivity of the tef, the government and non-governmental bodies is therefore promoting the adoption of improved varieties, fertilizers and improved practices. This study was conducted with the aim of enhancing tef production through popularizing the improved Quncho tef variety. The study was executed at three tef growing districts of northwestern Tigray, Ethiopia. A total of 222 farming households who are the safety net program beneficiaries were included in the study. An average grain yield of 1.43 and 1.05 ton/ha was obtained from Quncho and local tef varieties, respectively. This indicates Quncho tef gave 36/% yield advantage over the local tef variety. This will have a significant contribution to the efforts towards improving food security of the farm households. Moreover, Quncho tef were selected by the farmers in attributes like, tillering ability, spike length, biomass yield, seed color, market preference and grain yield as compared to the local one. Therefore, it is recommended that, the agriculture and rural development office of the respective districts and other stakeholders should further scaled out Quncho tef variety to large number farmers of the study areas.

Key words: Farmers perception, popularization, Quncho tef, Eragrostis tef, Tigray, Ethiopia.