Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Trends in Production and Export of Lentils in Ethiopia: International Journal of Plant Breeding and Crop Science
Trends in Production and Export of Lentils in Ethiopia: International Journal of Plant Breeding and Crop Science
Research Article
INTRODUCTION
By and large, agriculture in Ethiopia is subsistence. This is Lentils are grown in different volumes across the country.
predominantly true to the major food crops grown in the Lentils grown in 2015/16 (2008 E.C.) covered 6.1%
country and lentils are one of these crops (Negussie T, (100,692.74 hectares) of the legumes crop area produced
2004).In Ethiopia, the private peasant holders grow Lentils by 68,6415 private peasant land holders and 5% (about
primarily for the seed which has relatively higher contents 1,339,336.41 quintals) of the legumes production was
of protein; carbohydrate and calories compared to other drawn from the lentil crop in Ethiopia. This is concentrated
legumes and is the most desired crop because of its high in the Amhara and Oromia regions with 54% and 36%
average protein content, fast cooking characteristics and producers, respectively, engaged in production. The two
economic benefits (S.Kumer, S. Barpete, J.Kumar, regions account for 93% of the total area occupied by lentil
P.Gubta and A.Sarker, 2013).It provides important (CSA, 2016).
economic advantages to the small scale farm households
in providing food, feed, cash income, soil improvement and Studies revealed that, regardless of its importance, lentil
foreign currency earnings (Matny On, 2015; Daniel. A, productivity is still very low in Ethiopia mainly due to little
Firew M, and Asnake F, 2015). attention by the research (Chilot Y, yigezu A and Aden A,
2016). The study was therefore generally intended at
On the other hand, lentils one of the heavily consumed engendering information about Lentil production trend in
legumes crops in Ethiopia and is a popular ingredient of the country and the value of exports, the country is making
every day diet in the majority of households. Besides being from Lentil trade in the international market that will justify
rich in protein, the ability of crop to use atmospheric the need to invest in lentil research and development.
nitrogen through biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) is
economically appealing and environmentally friendly. It is
also well adapted to various soil types and also considered
as drought-resistant crop. It is widely grown in areas *Corresponding Author: Baye Belay, Ethiopian Institute
having an altitude range of 1,700-2,400 meters above sea of Agricultural Research P.O. Box 2003, Adis Ababa,
level with annual rainfall ranging from 700-2,000 mm in Ethiopia. E-mail: eyob.bezabeh@gmail.com
Ethiopia (David Karanja, 2016; Asnake F, 1996)
REGRESSION ANALYSIS
The simple linear regression functions were fitted for Fig 3: Trend in export volume of Lentils
estimating the response of production of Lentil due to the
change of its respective area and yield. And productions of In terms of value, the period under analysis opened with
Lentils were significantly increased. The coefficient of relatively higher values of Lentils exports and this was
production on area and yield were0.796 and 93468.677 followed by substantial decrease in value of Lentils
respectively, as shown inTable 2 below. exports. The export value was 173,032 birr in 1997 and
reached its climax during 2014 which was 25,658,382 birr
Table 2: Regression analysis - to test the dependency of (fig 3). The period under review closed with relatively low
production on area and yield of Lentil export values of Lentils. The trend in value of Lentils
variables Regression coefficient t-value P(T<=t) export was generally does not show any significant
two tail increase. And this shows that Lentils was not given more
constant -69670.768 -18.772 0.000 attention as an income generating means in the
Area 0.796 11.703 0.000 international market.
yield 93468.677 18.250 0.000
GROWTH RATE