Crop Protection Research Strategy 2016-2030

Abstract

Ethiopia has diverse agro-ecologies which enable it to grow various crop species. The Ethiopian economy relies heavily on the agricultural sector, where smallholder agriculture is the dominant sector that provides over 85 per cent of the total employment and foreign exchange earnings and approximately 38.5 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Cereal-based farming system is dominant in north, north central and south east whereas root crops-based agriculture is most dominating in the south. The major crops grown in the country include cereals (such as Tef, maize, sorghum, barley, wheat, finger millet), roots and tubers (Enset, sweet potatoes, potatoes), pulses (dry beans, Fababean, dry peas, grass pea, chickpeas, lentils, haricot bean and soybean), oilseeds (rapeseed, groundnuts, safflower, sesame, seed cotton, castor beans, linseed), vegetables (tomatoes, onions and shallots, hot pepper, brassicas), fruits (bananas, citrus, pineapple, mangoes, avocado) and stimulant/industrial crops (coffee, tea, sugarcane, cotton, tobacco). Moreover, the country is a centre of origin and diversity for a number of crops including Tef, sorghum, barley, noug, etc. Although agriculture is the backbone of the Ethiopian economy; annual agricultural production and productivity growth has not been commensurate with annual population growth rate. Several factors including climate change which aggravates insect ormite pest problems and diverse agro-ecologies that need diverse management options and low level of access to improved crop production and protection contribute to the poor performance of Ethiopian agriculture. These factors slow the growth of agricultural production in general and food grain productions in particular; eventually contribute significantly to food insecurity. To address these problems, the Ethiopian government prepared and adopted Growth and Transformation Plan for the period of 2011–2015 G.C (GTP I) and 2016- 2020 (GTP II). The GTP constitutes policies related to human development, rural development and food security that were a priority in the Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Program (SDPRP) which were also amplified under the Plan for Accelerated and Sustained Development to End Poverty (PASDEP). To achieve this goal, the agricultural sector was identified as a key driver of GTP. The performance of the agricultural sector has been constrained by biotic and abiotic factors, which in turn affected its contribution to the GTP. Insect/mite pests are amongst the major biotic constraints causing losses in quantities and qualities in crops. These problems are being aggravated by the introduction of new insect pests due to absence or weak quarantine among others. Recent examples of such cases include the damage caused to tomato plantation by an introduced exotic pest the tomato leaf miner(Tutaabsoluta), to cotton by the cotton mealy bug (Phenacoccusselenopsis), and to mango by the white mango scale (Aulacaspistubercularis), etc. The agricultural entomology research program in Ethiopia is performing less than what is expected due to several problems that existed for decades. Some of the problems are policy gaps to support, guide and enhance entomological research in the country, poor staffing, high staff turnover, insufficient budget, poor research facilities, unstable organizational setup and weak quarantine/regulatory enforcement. Thus to mitigate the problems that agricultural entomology research program has faced and to contribute its share to the agricultural sector, strong entomology research strategy need to be formulated and implemented.