Strategies to Increase Rainfed Maize Production in the Upper Omo-Gibe Basin, Ethiopia

Abstract

Agricultural production plays a vital role in the global economy, which is also true in the upper Omo-Gibe basin (UOGB) of Ethiopia. Because of its high percentage contribution to the country's GDP, it figured prominently in job creation and its political, economic, and social stability. Additionally, agricultural production can be increased by increasing crop water productivity and improving agricultural management. Thus, this research aims to develop strategies for increasing the production of maize crops in the water-scarce Omo-gibe basin of Ethiopia. Crop production function analysis and its planting can be studied for the rainfed maize area as a function of the amount of seeds, fertilizers, and water utilized to evaluate crop yield in the study area. To enhance crop productivity in the basin, a total of 30,287.17 ha of suitable pastoral land in the three slope classes has been converted to a rainfed maize area. Furthermore, two strategies in the three land-use conditions are identified to meet the expected 2030 UOGB rainfed maize production target and are assessed based on yield gap increases of one-fourth, two-fourth, and three-fourth. In the first strategy, increasing yield gaps by one-fourth, two-fourths, and three-fourths contributes 23.12, 46.23, and 69.35%, respectively, of the total targeted production in the basin's current rainfed maize area, whereas in the second strategy, increased production for additional suitable land contributed 0.80, 0.39% and 0.68%, 1.61, 0.79 and 1.36, and 2.41, 1.18, and 2.04% of the planned target production in the same order. © 2022, The National Academy of Sciences, India.