Women farmers in Kililit and Adet Zuria kebeles of the Yilman Densa woreda benefit from the sale of the vegetables they grow in their backyard gardens in addition to using them for domestic consumptions.
On the 4th of October 2022, Adet Agricultural Research Center (AARC) in partnership with Resilient Agriculture for Inclusive and Sustainable Ethiopian- Food System (RAISE-FS) hosted a field day to show the home garden vegetable production trials in kililit and Adet Zuria kebeles of Yimana Densa woreda. About 50 participants, including 20 farmers from the two kebeles, experts from the Woreda office of Agriculture, researchers from AARC and ARARI and RAISE-FS staff were in attendance.
As of last June 2022, 20 farmers from the two kebeles, with more than half of them being women, have engaged in year-round vegetable production activities. Some of these farmers not only started consuming their produces but have actually begun selling them.
On the occasion, farmers said they like the activities that they do at their home garden as they have started to earn additional income other than their main agricultural activities. Mr. Aynalem Mekonnen from Adet Zuria kebele stated that his wife is engaged in the vegetable gardening. “She is very active in the home garden activities. I support her in activities such as applying compost and others. She earns some money from the sale of the vegetable produces, which she uses to purchase other household necessities.”
Mr. Minibel Alemu and Mrs. Emye Asnakew are a married couple who lives in kililit kebele and work together in their home garden. This year, they cultivated carrot, sweet chard, beetroot and cabbage in their garden with the support of horticulturists from Woramit sub-center. “I found sweet chard very interesting.” Mrs Emye said. “We have tested it and we found it to be quite nice. Our kids also enjoyed it. We would like to have access to this seed sources.”
Mr. Minibel for his part said they used to grow vegetable in a very conventional way, but they are now experimenting with new vegetable crops, that can be harvested all year-round. He added that they had limited experience in consuming them but his family now tried the new vegetables and they found it nice.
Following the field visit, participants convened and discussed some of the pressing issues related to vegetable production such as the difficulty in distinguishing between good and bad quality packed seeds; low level of producers’ awareness regarding consumption, poor market linkage and chemical use are among the issues raised.
Participant stakeholders, in particular Adet ARC, Woreda Office of Agriculture and RAISE-FS projects will work to address these challenges raised.
The year-round vegetable production is part of RAISE-FS project endeavor to address the issue of safe and nutritious dense food availability and utilization in the intervention woredas.
RAISE-FS 