Agronomy

THE CHARACTERISTICS, FUNCTIONS AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION ROLE OF CUSTOMARY COURTS: THE CASE OF HARAMAYA DISTRICT, EAST HARARGHE ZONE, OROMIA, ETHIOPIA

2026-05-20T08:31:03Z

THE CHARACTERISTICS, FUNCTIONS AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION ROLE OF CUSTOMARY COURTS: THE CASE OF HARAMAYA DISTRICT, EAST HARARGHE ZONE, OROMIA, ETHIOPIA Hassen Mume Abrahim; Dr. Temam Haji Adem Ethiopia has been practicing various kinds of customary conflict resolution management. Different customary conflict resolution mechanisms have distinct functions and procedures. This study aimed to explore the characteristics, functions, and conflict resolution’s role of customary court (Mana Murtii Aadaa Oromoo) in Haramaya district of Oromia regional state. The study employed a qualitative research approach with a case study research design. The study also used both primary and secondary data that was collected through key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and observation. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the data. Customary court has been playing a vital role in settling conflicts among individuals and groups and in promoting peace, stability, and tolerance in the communities of the study area. The findings reveal that customary court is significant due to its characteristics of producing win-win results for the conflict parties, saving time, re-establishing harmony among conflict parties, revealing crimes committed without witnesses, social stability, and lasting peace among the people of the study area. Customary courts have unused potential for settling conflicts in Ethiopia in general and in the study area in particular. However, absence of clear boundary between legal and customary court, unclear mandate of customary court and lack of clear policy directions, lack of capacity building training for customary elders on the issues of human rights, poor infrastructure, lack of budget and poor working place have been identified as a limiting factor that are affecting the functionality of customary courts in the study area 97p.

EEFFECTS OF FILTER CAKE AND BLENDED NPS FERTILIZER RATES ON SUGARCANE (Saccharum officinarum L.) GROWTH, YIELD AND QUALITY AT FINCHAA SUGAR ESTATE, WESTERN ETHIOPIA

2026-05-20T08:26:38Z

EEFFECTS OF FILTER CAKE AND BLENDED NPS FERTILIZER RATES ON SUGARCANE (Saccharum officinarum L.) GROWTH, YIELD AND QUALITY AT FINCHAA SUGAR ESTATE, WESTERN ETHIOPIA Abdi Terefe Dibaba; Lemma Degebasa (PhD); Netsanet Ayele (PhD) High cane yield and juice quality are crucial for the commercial sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) industry. This study investigated the effects of blended NPS fertilizer and filter cake on cane growth, yield, and quality, particularly in light of declining soil fertility. The field experiment was conducted at FSE during the 2023/2024 cropping season, the experimental design involved a factorial arrangement combination in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Treatments included four levels of NPS fertilizer (0, 200, 300, and 400 kg ha-1 ) and four levels of filter cake (0, 10, 20, and 30 tons ha-1 ). The findings aim to identified optimal fertilizer combinations and conduct a partial budget analysis of their effects on sugarcane production. Variance analysis revealed highly significant (p < 0.01) differences in cane parameters due to both main and interaction effects of the treatments. The combination of 400 kg ha⁻¹ NPS and 20 tons ha⁻¹ filter cake yielded the highest values for leaf area (332.1 cm²), leaf area index (5.8), cane stalk girth (26.2 mm), millable canes (120155 stalks/ha), fresh stalk weight (1.47 kg/stalk), dry stalk weight (0.42 kg/stalk), pol (16.8%), purity (90.0%) sucrose content (11.73%), cane yield (192.8 t/ha), and sugar yield (24.47 t/ha). The maximum partial budget net benefits return of ETB 1,015,957.9 was achieved with the same treatment, compared to ETB 294,652.5 in controlled. These results suggested that the integration of 20 tons ha⁻¹ filter cake with 400 kg ha⁻¹ NPS was significantly enhance sugarcane production on luvisol soil. Further research is needed with different sugarcane varieties and soil types over multiple cropping seasons for more conclusive recommendations. 63p.

EFFECTS OF DEFICIT IRRIGATION LEVELS AND POTATO (Solanum tuberosum L.) VARIETIES ON YIELD, YIELD COMPONENTS, AND WATER PRODUCTIVITY AT HARAMAYA, ETHIOPIA

2025-03-21T06:56:51Z

EFFECTS OF DEFICIT IRRIGATION LEVELS AND POTATO (Solanum tuberosum L.) VARIETIES ON YIELD, YIELD COMPONENTS, AND WATER PRODUCTIVITY AT HARAMAYA, ETHIOPIA TARIKU LEGESSE; Dr.Yibekal Alemayehu (PhD.); Ashebir Haile (MSc. Senior Researcher) The right irrigation water management in agriculture is adopted to have a significant impact on water savings from deficit irrigation. DI is one of the talented irrigation plans to maintain an acceptable yield in the situation of a water shortage and uses efficient tools to optimize water use efficiency. Deficit irrigation improves water productivity through the consumption of less water while producing a comparable yield to that of an unstressed crop. However, this requires identification of a suitable crop type, crop variety, sensitivity of the crop to deficit irrigation, and local environment. The potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) has a crucial role in ensuring food and nutrition security worldwide. In Ethiopia, potato holds a prominent position among root and tuber crops, being the most produced and consumed, followed by cassava, sweet potato, and yam, and significantly contributing to national food security, poverty alleviation, income generation, and job creation, particularly in regions like the central, eastern, northwestern, and southern parts of Ethiopia. This research was conducted to introduce the effects of deficiency irrigation levels and potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) varieties on yield, yield components, and water productivity. The field experiment was conducted at the Haramaya University experimental site during off-season 21 and aimed at investigating the effect of deficit irrigation levels on potato varieties yields, yield components, and water productivity. The experiment was carried out in a split-plot design with nine treatment combinations and three replications. The three treatments include potato varieties (Gudene, Tulema, and Bubu) as the main plot and three deficit irrigation levels (100%, 80%, and 60% of evapotranspiration of crop). Crop water requirement was estimated using actual daily climatic data. The results revealed that the main and interaction effects of levels and varieties exerted a significant effect on the plant growth, tuber yield, yield parameters, and water use efficiency of potatoes. The highest marketable tuber yield of 32 t/ha was obtained from Tulema with 100% crop water application, and the minimum tuber yield of 27.26 t/ha was recorded with 60% ETc with the Bubu variety, respectively. The highest water use efficiency (WUE) of 10.44 kg/s was obtained from Tulema with 60% ETc, while the lowest one was recorded (4.73 kg/s) from Gudene with 100% ETc. The maximum yield reduction (14.81%) was recorded with Bubu 60% ETc, followed by Bubu 80% ETc (13.56%), and the minimum yield reduction (0.22%) was from Tulema 80% ETc. Therefore, Tulema verity showed the best performance with minimum yield reduction, was the was the best water-saving variety, and gave a chance for an additional area of land to be irrigated with saved water. The financial analysis revealed that the 80% ETc application of water by using the Tulema variety gave the maximum net benefit (127853 ETB) with the highest MRR (132.18%) relative to water-saving additional hectares. Therefore, in an area where water resources are scarce, it could be concluded that the Tulema potato variety, by saving irrigation water with respect to the Gudene and Bubu potato varieties, can solve the problem of water shortage and would ensure the opportunity for further irrigation development in the study area and similar agro-ecology. 86

EFFECTS OF NP FERTILIZER RATES AND PLANT POPULATION ON MUNG BEAN (Vigna radiata L.) PRODUCTIVITY IN GOBU-SAYO DISTRICT, OROMIA, ETHIOPIA

2025-03-13T06:47:37Z

EFFECTS OF NP FERTILIZER RATES AND PLANT POPULATION ON MUNG BEAN (Vigna radiata L.) PRODUCTIVITY IN GOBU-SAYO DISTRICT, OROMIA, ETHIOPIA SAMUEL LEMMA DESISA; Dr Abdulaxif Ahmed (PhD); Dr Lemma Degebasa (PhD) Mung bean (Vigna radiate L.) is a pulse crop with multiple uses and it was introduced recently in the study area. The agronomic practices like optimum plant population and NPS fertilizer rate were not practiced for Mung bean production in the study area. Hence, the study was carried out to determine optimal plant population and NPS fertilizer rates for Mung bean (borda varaity) production in Bako, western Ethiopia. The experiment comprised factorial combinations of three Plant population (571429, 666667, and 800000 plants ha-1) and five NPS fertilizer rates (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 kg ha-1) and it was laid out using RCBD with three replications. The results indicated that main effect of Plant population and NPS fertilizer rates had significant effect on phenology, growth, yield, and yield components of Mung bean, except stand count, above-ground biomass, straw and seed yield were affected by the main factors interaction. The highest nodule dry weight per plant (0.144 g), number of pods per plant (5.13), seed per pod (11.03 g), 100-seed weight (3.80 g), and harvest index (47.14%) were observed under minimum plant population (571,429 plants ha-1). Moreover, the highest days for 50% flowering (49.08 days) and 90% physiological maturity (64.5 days), effective nodules per plant (2.28),nodule fresh weight (0.31 gm), nodule dry weight (0.15g plant-1),plant height (26.88cm), number of leaves per plant (11.68), number of branches per plant (4.74), tap root length (8.99cm), number of pods per plant (5.13), seed per pod (11.03 g), 100-seed weight (3.87 g), and harvest index (50.91%) were observed under 200 kg ha-1 NPS fertilizer. The highest stand count per hectare (787,333 plants ha−1), above-ground biomass (3,273 kg ha-1), straw yield per hectare (1,657 kg ha-1) and grain yield ha-1 (1,691kg ha-1) were recorded at higher plant population (800,000 plants ha-1) with 200 kg NPS ha-1 fertilizer rate (kg ha-1). However, higher plant population (800,000 plants ha-1) at the rate of 100 kg NPS ha-1fertilizer gave 1,591 kgha 1seed yield which was the highest net benefit (116299 ETB) and marginal, rate of returns (6302%). Therefore, application of 100 kg NPS ha-1fertilizer with higher plant population (800,000 plants ha-1) can be recommended for mung bean production in the study area and similar agro-ecology. However, the current study was carried out only in one location for one cropping season, hence further studies over seasons and across locations are needed to have a conclusive recommendation for wide range of agro ecology for Mung bean production. 72