Analysis of Off-Season Maize Production in East and West Wellega Zones of Oromiya Region

Abstract

In the farming systems of West Oromiya Zone, maize is predominantly produced twice a year, in the main-and off-seasons. The off-season maize production has, most probably, been started with the farmers' understanding of their environment and the degree the off-season maize could contribute to the attainment of food security. The possibility of double production of maize by farming communities contributes a lot to policy instruments designed to meet food security. The main-season maize is produced under rainfed condition, whereas, the off-season maize is produced using residual moisture, locally called ‘bonee’, and in some places, under smallscale local irrigation scheme. Crop production during dry season in Western Ethiopia covers an area of about 80 000 ha and maize accounts for 65% of all the crops produced (CSA 1996). To achieve food security for the population, different structural adjustments were made to improve research and development processes. However, until recently, agricultural research and development interventions have been giving emphasis to improvement of the main-season maize production. Although many improved maize varieties have been recommended and released for the main-season, none was attempted for off-season production. The new extension package program has been promoting only the main-season maize production through popularization and demonstration of technologies. But, most crops are harvested in the off-season as well and surplus grain supply may occur in the market. On the contrary, in the main-season, supply may be short and the prices of most crops rise. Although this needs careful consideration, no study was undertaken to identify and document the major production constraints of off-season maize production. As a result, area under off-season maize production is relatively small (Table 2). Past research gave recommendations which did not function in some areas, probably due to differences in farmer circumstances and the environments which the technologies were meant for. No study was made to identify household typologies based on wealth and gender differences. It was thus difficult to spell-out differential recommendations to increase research efficiency and production. This publication highlights reasons of off-season maize production across household types and production schemes (residual moisture and irrigation) and predicts its potential. Using the recommendations suggested by this study, appropriate policy might be devised to incorporate off-season maize production in research and development endeavors. The primary objective of maize production in the off-season, both under vbonee’ and ' Jallisee’ conditions, is to alleviate food shortages that might occur in rainy season (79.5%), and to lessen cash shortage faced by the family (20.5%). However, interhousehold analysis showed that there exists difference in the degree of satisfaction derived from off-season maize production in alleviating food shortages mainly because of wealth difference between households. Farmers reported that poor farm families benefit from the harvests of off-season maize production by fulfilling their food requirement in the rainy season when their grain is depleted from their granary, whereas, the rich ones consider the off-season maize as a supplementary food and cashgenerating crop. Despite this difference in the degree of satisfaction, rich farmers produce it on large hectares compared to the poor ones. Rich households consider the cash that could be generated from the sale of grain or green cobs and also the satisfaction that could be derived from the luxurious consumption of the green cobs. But, poor households consider the amount of satisfaction that could be obtained from the consumption of green cobs as main food. Considering inter-crop production in the off-season, land allocation has been the function of productivity, time, value of food, availability, suitability of bottomland for bonee, and availability of irrigation water.