Tef is Ethiopia’s most important staple crop. Tef has the largest value in terms of both production and consumption in Ethiopia  and  the  value  of  the  commercial  surplus  of  tef  is  second  followed  by  coffee  (Minten  et al., 2013).

It would seem that because of its superior nutritional qualities, tef would be available to all persons in Ethiopia to make Enjera. Tef with 11% of protein is an excellent source of essential amino acids, especially lysine (the amino acid that is most often deficient in grains) (Ayalew et al., 2011). Tef grain is rich in iron, calcium, and fiber and the grains are low on the glycemic index, which makes them suitable for people and the grain is also gluten-free (FAO, 2015).

However, despite its importance in Ethiopia, tef yields are low. In the production year of 2016/2017, the average tef grain yield 1.66 tons per hectare is low compared to other cereals, such as maize (3.67 t/ha), sorghum and wheat (2.52 and 2.67 t/ha) (CSA, 2017). This low yield of tef is mainly attributed to lodging, moisture stress, shattering, and poor pre- and post-harvest agronomic management and low modern inputs use (Assefa et al., 2011; Fufa et al., 2011).

However farmers using improved cultivars and management practices, can obtain yields up to 2.5 t/ha (Tefera and Belay, 2006), while the yield potential of tef under optimal management can give up to 4.6 t/ha (Teklu and Tefera, 2005).

Tigray specifically northwestern zone is among the potential tef producing areas. But, due to lack of improved technologies and management practices, tef production remained low. To improve tef production in the area, Quncho tef variety which was released in 2006 (MoARD, 2008) was introduced via Shire-Maytsebri Agricultural Research Center in collaboration with different research centers and projects. Thus, the study was aimed at boosting production and productivity of tef through popularization of Quncho tef variety and to collect the farmers perception towards the variety.

Location of the study area

Quncho tef variety popularization was conducted at three potential tef producing districts of Northwestern Tigray, Ethiopia.  A total of seven Kebelles/villages were included in the study based on their potential for growing tef. The study was executed in 2012/13 at Tahtay Koraro, Asgede Tsimbla and Laelay Adyabo districts. Farming system of the study area is mixed farming, mostly crop and livestock production.

Asgede Tsimbla is found at 13° 73’N to 14o 21’N and 37° 59’E to 38° 31’E. The district has 25 to 35°C of temperature and 500 to 900 mm annual rainfall. Laelay Adyabo district is located at 14° 08 N to 14° 69 N and 37° 89’E to 38° 46’E and annual rainfall is 605 to 1370 mm. While Tahtay Koraro district is found at 13° 9N to14° 27N and 38° 05’E to 38° 45’E and annual rainfall ranged from 800 to 1000 mm (Figure 1).

Beneficiaries selection and implementation procedures

Beneficiary farmers were selected based on the criteria and objectives of the operational research for technology dissemination project and interest of farmers to participate in the demonstration trials. In addition, the safety net program beneficiaries and disadvantaged households (youths and women headed household) were the main focus of the project. The participating farmers were selected by office of agriculture and rural development of respective districts (Figure 2). A total of 222 farming households (24 female and 198 male) were selected from the three districts for the intervention of Quncho tef variety. The major criteria for selection of the respondents were; their interest to join the program and their food security status. All the target groups were recipients of the Productive Safety Net Program.

Each farmer was allocated the plot size ranged from 0.25 to 0.5 ha. 3 to 8 kg of Quncho seed were offered to each of the respondents by Operational Research Technology Dissemination Project. Farmers, experts and development agents were trained about the improved varieties and improved agricultural practices such as seed rate, fertilizer rate, planting methods (row planting) and crop protection. All the technical implementation and backstopping was managed by researchers, district experts and development agents of the Kebelles. The host farmers were expected to apply all necessary management practices as the recommendations.

Methods of data collection and analysis

Both primary and secondary data were collected. Primarily data like qualitative and quantitative data were collected quantitative data (grain yield) were collected using quadrant from the plot area of 1 m*1 m and qualitative data were collected from the beneficiaries using the checklist. The scales of poor, same and good were used for the parameters including tolerance to insect and diseases, spike length, tillering ability, stand ability (lodging), plant height, drought tolerance, seed color, marketability, straw palatability, biomass yield and grain yield were used to collect the qualitative data from the farmers. Secondary data were collected from different relevant published and unpublished sources. The collected quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as mean and percentages.

Grain yield of Quncho tef variety

Production comparison between Quncho and local tef varieties were computed. The result obtained from the two tef varieties is presented in Table 1. As shown in Table 1, an average grain yield of 1.43 and 1.05 ton/ha were obtained from the improved tef (Quncho) and local tef variety, respectively.  The result shows, Quncho tef variety was given 36% yield increment over the local tef variety. In line with this, the report of Kebebew et al. (2011) shows Quncho tef gave an average on-farm grain yield of 1.27 ton/ha. But, the on-station research result of Quncho tef variety shows the variety gave an average grain yield of 2.46 ton/ha (Kebebew et al., 2011). The higher grain yield of the Quncho tef variety is attributed due to less lodging, better tillering and the longer spike length of the variety.

In Ethiopia tef is cash crop and economically superior commodity for producers (FAO, 2015). Tef commands a market price of 2 to 3 times higher than maize (Abraham, 2015). So the higher grain yield, obtained from Quncho tef variety in the study area has higher contributions to improve income and food security of the household.

Farmers perception on attributes of Quncho tef variety

The perception and insight of farmers’ on the overall performance of the improved tef variety as compared to the local variety were assessed. The attributes that was used to survey the farmers perception; tolerance to insect and diseases, spike length, tillering ability, stand ability (lodging), plant height,  drought   tolerance,   seed   color, marketability, straw palatability, biomass yield and grain yield; along with the scales of poor, same and good. The farmers perception result shows that, the participant farmers perceive the improved Quncho tef variety as favour in its tillering ability, spike length, biomass yield, seed color, market preference and grain yield (Table 2). Similar to this study, the finding of   Belay et al. (2008) also indicate that Quncho fits the most important farmers’ selection criteria driven by market, seed colour and yield. On the other side, the farmers in the area criticized negatively the improved variety in the attributes like less drought tolerance and less straw palatability as compared to the local tef variety. But less straw palatability does not mean the animals are not feeding the straw but it means that they prefer the local tef straw than the improved one if you gave them aside. The straw of tef in the area is stored and serves as a very important source of animal feed, especially during the dry season.

The study concludes that the Quncho tef showed higher grain yield and better perception by the farmers compared to the local tef cultivars. Quncho tef variety scored yield advantage of 36% over the local tef. This shows that the farmers who planted Quncho tef variety have high grain yields than the planted local varieties. Thus, Quncho tef is one of the alternatives that could help in enhancing production and productivity of tef and this play a vital role in improving household food security. Hence, the study recommended that:

1. The agriculture and rural development offices of the districts and other stakeholders should further disseminate the Quncho variety to large number of farmers of the similar agro ecologies.

2. Ensure sustainable  seed  supply  both  in  quality  and  quantity of Quncho tef variety.

The authors have not declared any conflict of interests.      

The authors would like to acknowledge Operational Research Technology Dissemination Project and Tigray Agricultural Research Institute for the research grant. Special thanks also go to agricultural experts and respondent farmers of hosted districts for their kind cooperation for the study.