Project News

Field day season has come. In Ethiopia, many field days are held to exhibit the achievements of agricultural researches and to exchange information among the stakeholders during September and October. We are receiving invitations for the field days form research centers and universities conducting FRG based research activities in different part of Ethiopia. This time, we would like to report our visit at Werer Agriculture Research Center (Afar Region) and Jimma University (Oromia region).

The field day at Werer Agriculture Research Center in Afar Region (about 288km from Addis Ababa) was held on 5th of October 2010. The researchers introduced seed multiplication field of rice, salinity tolerance trial field, vegetable farmers who used to be pastoralists. In the discussion after the field visit, participants pointed out that postharvest management techniques/ equipments can be the bottleneck to boost the rice production in the area.

Another field day was conducted at Shebe Woreda in Jimma Zone (About 354km from Addis Ababa) on 17th of October 2010 by Jimma University College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine (JUCAVM). They visited FRG rice research project on participatory variety selection. The participants discussed on the traits of different rice varieties, and farmers selected NERICA 4 as the most favorite variety.

A FRG farmer's field near Werer ARC. Farmers and researchers are evaluating the rice seed multiplication field.

A FRG farmer's field at Shebe Woreda, Jimma. Farmers are discussing the differences among the varieties.