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Improving Potato Seed Tuber Quality and Producers' Livelihoods in Hararghe, Eastern Ethiopia

ABSTRACT Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is one of the important vegetable crops in Ethiopia with the potential to improve the national food supply and economic benefits to smallholder producers. Hararghe in eastern Ethiopia is one of the major potato producing regions of the country and potatoes are grown in both the rainy and dry seasons. The increases in potato culture in Hararghe are spurred by ever-increasing population pressure, land fragmentation and the impossibility of sustaining farm families' livelihoods from cereal production. The presence of a regional domestic market and cross-border and export market outlets to the neighboring Djibouti and Somalia have contributed to the development of potato culture in Hararghe. The high yields of potatoes grown on the research station (30-40 metric tones ha−1) are not realized at the producers level in Hararghe (11-13 metric tones ha−1). This might be partly attributed to lack of better yielding modern cultivars and to use of poor quality propagation material by producers. Despite the crop's importance in smallholder producers' livelihoods, there is no organized formal seed tuber production and supply in Hararghe. Potato producers rely entirely on the local seed supply system to obtain propagation material that might not be able to supply disease and pest free seed tubers of good genetic and horticultural qualities. This study was conducted to assess the strength and drawbacks of the local seed tuber supply system, which suggests alternative seed tuber production and supply approaches to enable smallholder producers to grow ware potatoes from good quality propagation material. This should increase yield, improve ware potato quality and producers' competitiveness and negotiating capabilities for fair prices in the cross-border and export markets. This report, after assessing the role of the potato crop in smallholder producers' livelihoods, outlines the drawbacks of the current seed tuber supply system and suggests a practical alternative approach to produce and supply good quality propagation material. The report highlights the potential of a community-based seed tuber production and supply scheme in improving potato yield and ware potato quality, which are prerequisites to raising the level of farm income and smallholder producers' livelihoods.