Melese Meseretu, Getachew Bereket, Woldemeskel Endalkachew, Gunnabo Ashenafi Hailu
College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Arba Minch University, Arba Minch, Ethiopia.
World Agroforestry (ICRAF), ILRI-Addis Ababa Campus, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
PLoS One. 2025 Aug 13;20(8):e0327727. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0327727. eCollection 2025.
A random sample of 847 households (HHs) in southern Ethiopia was used to assess the impact of HH characteristics, land and livestock ownership, seasonal variations, and agricultural challenges on cereals and legumes, crucial to community livelihoods. A structured survey was integrated into the ODK data collection tool, validated, and used with trained agricultural agents, and analyzed using an R statistical package. Farm productivity was significantly influenced by gender, since male headed HHs produced 25.5% more yield than female headed HHs. Livestock ownership, land cultivation, farm productivity and product utilizations were also varied among the HHs. Furthermore, agricultural practices like labor utilization, fertilizer and composite application, and use of improved seed varieties significantly affected the farm productivity. Besides, maize was identified as the principal and top-priority crop, while common bean (legume) was the second-priority crop for local people. This shows that legumes were important in the region's agricultural systems, but some farmers experienced reduced productivity due to poor agronomic practices. Consequently, a substantial proportion of farmers (>50%) faced food shortages from February to June, representing the peak of the dry season and the beginning of the rainy season (April to May). Integrating early-maturing legumes in the farming system would help to escape the food shortage periods. Many farmers disclosed that the cost of chemical fertilizers' was unaffordable, indicating a need for options like use of rhizobia inoculants and showed interest to use on their farms for improved productivities.
在埃塞俄比亚南部，对847户家庭进行随机抽样，以评估家庭特征、土地和牲畜所有权、季节变化以及农业挑战对谷物和豆类的影响，这些对社区生计至关重要。将结构化调查纳入ODK数据收集工具，进行验证，并与经过培训的农业人员一起使用，然后使用R统计软件包进行分析。农场生产力受性别影响显著，因为男性户主家庭的产量比女性户主家庭高出25.5%。牲畜所有权、土地耕种、农场生产力和产品利用情况在各家庭之间也存在差异。此外，劳动力利用、化肥和复合肥施用以及改良种子品种的使用等农业实践对农场生产力有显著影响。此外，玉米被确定为主要和首要作物，而菜豆（豆类）是当地人的第二优先作物。这表明豆类在该地区的农业系统中很重要，但一些农民由于不良的农艺实践而生产力下降。因此，很大一部分农民（>50%）在2月至6月面临粮食短缺，这是旱季的高峰期和雨季（4月至5月）的开始。在种植系统中引入早熟豆类将有助于避开粮食短缺期。许多农民表示化肥成本难以承受，这表明需要像使用根瘤菌接种剂这样的选择，并表示有兴趣在自己的农场使用以提高生产力。
