FABA BEAN (Vicia faba) IN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

The faba bean, know n as botanically as Vicia faba is a cool season food legume crop. In Ethiopia, the crop grows mainly because the chilling requirement is fulfilled by cold temperatures in the high elevation of the mountains from altitudes of 1900 to 3000 m and sometimes even higher. Hence, it is known as one of the "highland pulses" together with field or dry peas CPisum sativum ), chickpea (Cicer arietinutri), lentil (Lens culinahes), grass or rough pea (Lathyrus sativum ), fenugreek ( Trigonella foenum graecum ), and Lupin (Lupinus albus) all that inhabit the highlands of Ethiopia in great diversity. Ethiopia is the second largest grow er of faba bean in the world after the Peoples’ Republic of China. It is the most important of the highland pulses in terms o f acreage, production and food supply among the highland pulses. It plays a key role in the cropping system where il is grown in rotation with cereals and oil crops for the purpose of improving soil fertility and as a break crop against soil borne diseases. It used to be an important export commodity until 1977 but there has been a decline ever since because o f low supply and low quality seeds. Faba bean also holds an important place in the national recipe where it is consumed in various forms, i.e., by children who herd livestock to people who live in seclusion in the monasteries and holy places. In other parts of the world the green immature beans are boiled and eaten as vegetable. The mature seeds may be used for feeding livestock, swine, equine, and poultry animals. The stocks or haulms may be used as animal feeding stuff also. The stocks are used as fire wood for cooking. The crop may be grown for green manuring and for silage. Production in Ethiopia is totally rain-fed on Nitosols and Cambisols soils. Yield per hectare is rather low (about 1 ton/ha) because of various production constraints among which the inherently low yielding ability of most of the local cultivars, primitive production practices, poor soil fertility, and diseases are the major ones. A substantial amount of research attention has been given to faba bean for the last 18 to 20 years when a number of improved production packages that include varieties, agronomic practices and pest management have been generated, verified, demonstrated and disseminated to farmers in the central (Shewa), south east (Arsi and Bale) and northwest (Gojam and south Gonder). Adoption rate of these improved production technologies must have been very poor among farmers or demonstrations and popularizations have been done in very few areas since production per hectare is still low.