Amnara Kegwn Regional Workshop on Potato Research and Development: Achievements and Transfer Experiences and Future Directions. Workshop Theme: Participatory Potato Technology Development and Transfer: Towards Food Security and improved Livelihoods in the New Millennium. 20 - 21 December 2007 BahirDar, Ethiopia Edited by Tesfaye Abebe Desta Proceedings of the 1st Amhara Region Regional Workshop Potato Research and Development: Achievements and Transfer Experiences and Future Directions, Workshop Theme: Participatory Potato Technology Development and Transfer: Towards Food Security and improved Livelihoods in the New Millennium. 20-21, December 2007 Bahir Dar, Ethiopia Edited by Tesfaye Abebe Desta Table of Contents Acknowledgement iii Welcome Address i Opening Address iii The contribution of potato in addressing food security Agenda of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG): Current and Future Scenario 1 Potato technology transfer experiences and future recommendation for sustainable development of the commodity in parts of Western Amhara Region 7 Participatory Seed Multiplication and Scaling up of Improved Potato Varieties: Achievement and Experience in North Gondar Zone, Ethiopia 20 Efforts, Experiences and Future Directions of Potato Technology Transfer in North Shewa Zone "f 'Jie Amhara Region 29 Experience on Potato Technology Transfer by the Extension System and Future Direction in the Amhara Regional State 44 Potato Technology Transfer Activities Through Linking to Market in South Gondar, Tach Gaynt District by Food for the Hungry/Ethiopia 55 Assessment o f Socio economics status o f potato producers in selected areas of North Shewai A case for potato seed production intervention. ' 65 Review of Crap Improvement Research, Achievements and Future Focus in Parts of Western Amhara Region- The Case of Adet 85 Review of Potato Variety Development Achievements in in North Shewa, Amhara Region, Ethiopia 102 Participatory on farm evaluation and demonstration o f improved potato varieties in the highlands of North Gondar Zone 123 Crop Management Research and Achievement on Potato in Amhara Region with especial reference to western Amhara parts. 133 Research achievements in potaio agronomy at Debre Birhan Agricultural Research Center 157 Soil K Status and K Requirement of Potaio Growing on Different Soils of Western Amhara 167 Demonstration of integrated potato late blight (Phytophthra infestans) management options through Farmers Field School (FFS) Approach: Hie case of Adet 187 Evaluation of the effects of alternate furrow irrigation on yield and water use efficiency of potato. 202 Potato Seed System in the Amhara Region: Retrospect and Prospect 224 Contract fanning: Prospect towards sustainable supply of raw notato for processing plants in Northwestern Ethiopia 244 Amhara Region Agricultural Research Institute (ARARI) Adet Agricultural Research Center P.O.Box-08, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia Tele: +251 058 338 02 37 Fax:+251 058 338 02 35 e-mail: [email protected] ©2008. All rights reserved. The opinions expressed in this publication are the sole idea and responsibility of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editor. Proper citation is requested. Correct Citation: Tesfaye Abebe (eds.), 2008. Proceedings of the 1st Amhara Region Regional Workshop on Potato Research and Development: Achievements and Transfer Experiences end Future Directions. Participatory Potato Technology Development end Transfer: Towards Food Security and improved Livelihoods in the New iiWlemzititn., December 20-21, 2007. Amhara Region Agricultural Research Institute. Pahir Dar, Ethiopia Acknowledgement We are very grateful to the assisstances received from the Amhara Region Institute of Agricultural Research, Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Developemnt and The Food for the Hungry International/Ethiopia without whom this workshop and this proceeding edition would have been impossible. We are also very much thankful of all the staffs helped us at all stakes for the suceess of this workshop as planned. The editor. Welcome Address Tesfaye Abebe Desta National Potato Research Project Coordinator Your Excellency Dr. Alemayehu Asseffa Deputy Director General, Amhara Region Agricultural Research Institute Your Excellency Ato Aynalem Gezahegne, Head of Extension Department of the Amhara BoARD, and representative of the Deputy Head of the Amhara BoARD Dear head of different offices, Colleagues and Fellow Participants of the Workshop It is a great pleasure and honor for me to welcome you all to this historical and special workshop of potato. I said special because of two very important underlying facts. One and the most important is that this workshop is the first Regional workshop of potato to the Institute in the dawn of the old and the eve of the new Ethiopian Millennium The second important reason that makes this workshop special is that the workshop is convened in the eve of the coming 2008 European year, a year which is dedicated to be an International Year of the Potato by the world Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). And / am quite very sure that every one o f you will be very happy of attending this workshop which will not come to pass again in our life time. As we all know most of us are busy of Regional and institutional work load during the past week. I appreciate the inconveniencies that ail of you had to attend this workshop just traveling long distances within few days and also leaving many of your office assignments. I believe you will tolerate all this considering the significance of this i deliberation as one of the vital event that will contribute a lot to what the country as well as the Regional government envisioned in the new Millennium that is poverty eradication and ensuring food security at the household level. Dear participants, within the coming two days a total of 17 papers related to potato technology generation and transfer will be presented. Above all experiences of technology transfer efforts made by different institutions will be thoroughly discussed and recommendations will be passed as to how should we go about scaling up of the previous years pilot works so that the larger community at all stage will benefit from huge public investments made on generating sound and proved technologies. Also the seed system that needs to be established in the Region so as to meet the stipulated Millennium Development Goal will be discussed. We will also finally have an award ceremony in recognition of the efforts of industrious farmers and development agents in Tach Gayint District during the past summer in a community based Potato seed tuber multiplication and technology transfer activity. With this brief introductory remark may I respectfully invite Ato Aynalem Gezahegne, Head of extension Department of the Amhara BoARD. and representative of the Deputy Head of the Amhara BoARD to officially open the workshop? Opening Address Ato Ayinalem Gezahegne, Head of the Department of Extension o f BoARD and representative of Deputy Head of BOARD Dr. Alemayehu Asseffa, Deputy Director General of the ARARI Participants of the workshop Ladies and Gentlemen It is an honor and pleasure for me to be present today at the opening of the fiist Amhara National Regional State (ANRS) Regional Workshop on Potato Research and Development. I want to take this opportunity to express, on hehalf the Amhara Region Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development, my deep appreciation to the ARARJ for all it did to facilitate this very important event of experience exchange among various stakeholders involved in the agricultural development system and information augmentation forum. I also extend my warm welcome to you all gathered in this hall. It is also a great pleasure for me to express my sincere hope that your stay here and deliberations will be pleasant and fruitful one. As most of you are aware, since the past 1980’s an aggressive extension work has been started in the region and the country as a whole. This is also a time during which package formulation for the implementation of the foreseen extension work is launched. Following this urgency and the need for regional agricultural technologies regional agricultural research centers exerted strong effort to develop technologies that best suit to regional priority problems. After years of perceptive efforts today it has been reached to such level at which achievements of various stakeholders will be discussed and augmented into one document to be used as a working guideline. Today, the Amhara Regional State Government is laying down better environment inline with building good governance, peace and development. The encouraging devejopments in this respect are being followed by commensurable and all round efforts of the people at all levels. You participants of this workshop are the source of research and development actors to the Regional backbone of the economy, i.e., agricultural sector. Ladies and Gentlemen Shortage of appropriate research technologies and transfer system has been the source of current level of agricultural productivity seen in the region as well as the country. This ultimately resulted in the low amount of food reserve and food security problems. Potato as one of the agricultural crop produced in the mid and high altitude “areas of the region has multiple constraints that needs closer research attention and technology transfer system so as it could contribute to the access of sufficient food at the household level. Recently, the multifaceted agricultural research outputs and their