ROLE OF RESEARCH FOR HORTICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN ETHIOPIA

At present horticultural crops are playing economically important role as garden crops by providing food and improving cereal based diet. This is particularly true in densly populated regions of the country. Commercial horticultural production is, in general, at its infant stage though the progress made in the past few years is quite encouraging. This is due to problems involved in the production, storage, processing and marketing of these perishable crops. For the last thirty years, efforts have been made to conduct researches on different horticultural crops at various experiment stations within the country. The results of those researches have enabled investigators to develop many varieties of vegetable and fruit that are adaptable to different ecological zones both for local consumption and export.

Considering the country's potential as horticultural crop producer, the role, played by the crops as staple food, improve cereal based diet, and as a source of foreign exchange is negligible. Moreover, the quality and as well as the quantity produced is low when compared with world standard.

A sound improvement of horticultural crop production could be attained by promulgating improved and adapted cultivars to different regions of the country; and also by developing cultural practice, appropriate machineries, effective and cheap pest control measures, irrigation and storage facilities, and effecient transportation, processing and marketing systems. Therefore, development of horticultural crop industry heàvily depends on the joint effort of researchers, producers and policy makers.

Download Adobe Acrobat Reader (free software to read PDF files)