J. Agric. Environ. Sci. Vol. 6 No. 1 (2021) ISSN: 2616-3721 (Online); 2616-3713 (Print)

Publication of College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Bahir Dar University 1

Farmers’ Finger Millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn] Seed Management Practices in

West Gojjam Zone, NorthWestern Ethiopia

Wossen Tarekegne

, Firew Mekbib

and Yigzaw Dessalegn

Bahir Dar University, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences

Haramaya University, School of plant Sciences

ILRI, LIVES Project, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia

*Corresponding author: wossentarekegne1@gmail.com

Received: April 26, 2020 Accepted: April 14, 2021

Abstract: Finger millet is one of the major growing crops in Amhara region particularly in West Gojjam Zone

in maintaining food and nutrition security. However, the quality of finger millet seeds, agronomic packages and

the productivity of the crop is very low as well as maintaining of genetic diversity is not documented. The

present study was carried out in Yilmana-Densa and Mecha districts of Northwestern Ethiopia to document

farmers’ knowledge and experiences on finger millet seed management practices. Data were collected from 120

households using a structured questionnaire and focus group discussion. The results showed that 72.5% of the

respondents explained that seed selection is made by both husband and wife; and the seed was selected soon

after threshing 58.3% of the respondents replied that the seeding materials are selected soon after threshing

while 37.5% did during planting time. Almost all respondents used locale made materials to clean seed and

97.5% of them didn’t use storage chemicals as finger millet do have a long shelf life like teff. Nowadays farmers

used improved varieties of finger millet as its productivity is better than the local varieties. Therefore, the

existing finger millet seed management practices has been contributing for maintaining genetic diversity,

however, the system is insufficient to hold and enhance the existing function of the extension organization,

farmer cooperative union, NGO and government organization to meet the seed quality thereby seed security.

Hence, establishing and strengthening linkages among stakeholders to use indigenous knowledge on seed

management practices, seed selection, diversity conservation and seed security for a bad time.

Keywords: Genetic diversity, Indigenous knowledge, Seed cleaning, Seed security

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

1. Introduction

Agriculture is the mainstay of the Ethiopian

economy and the primary source of livelihood for

the majority of its population. In view of this, the

supply of high-quality seed of well-adapted crops

could be considered crucial among the other

agricultural inputs. This is because seed is the most

vital and crucial input for crop production, one of

the ways to increase productivity without adding

appreciably to the extent of land now under

cultivation by planting quality seed

(https://www.agriquest.info/quality). Even if, seed

consider as a major agricultural input, its quality

declined due to poor postharvest handling technics

like physical damage during threshing,

transportation, improper moisture content, poor

storage, insect/disease attach, or prolonged shelf

life and others, all these will affect the productivity

of finger millet. However, it is one of the most

important crops to achieve both food and feed

security, especially in drought-prone areas. Millets

are grown and can give reasonable yield even under

harsh growing conditions with low-input

agricultural situations in which major cereal crops

often produce low yields in areas of Africa and

Asia (Adekunle, 2012; Amadou et al., 2013;

Changmei and Dorothy, 2014). However, research

effort on varietal development as well as in seed

multiplication and supply is very limited. As a

result, finger millet producers traditionally

developed a number of cultivars and have been

selecting their own seed for the next season.

Finger millet seed management practice has been

undertaken from the time of domestication until

now. It was exercised through selecting landraces,

which are adaptable to the existing environmental

condition and having the most preferred traits. The

seed management activities have been played their

own role in seed quality, on-time availability,

J. Agric. Environ. Sci. Vol. 6 No. 1 (2021) ISSN: 2616-3721 (Online); 2616-3713 (Print)

Publication of College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Bahir Dar University 2

productivity and diversification of varieties.

However, finger millets seed management practices

of farmers are not studied well and well

documented. Therefore, this study was initiated to

assess and document farmers’ knowledge and

experiences on finger millet seed management

practices in West Gojjam Zone, Northwestern

Ethiopia.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Description of the study area

The study was carried out in Yilmana-Densa and

Mecha Districts (Woredas) in West Gojam Zone of

Northwestern Ethiopia. Yilmana-Densa and Mecha

Districts are found between 11

16'19" N and 11

25'20" N latitudes, and 37

28'38" E and 37

10'20"

E longitudes; with an altitude of 2240 and 1960

meters above sea level (m.a.s.l.). The soil type of

the study area is characterized as Luvisol and

Nitosol with pH setting of 5.38 to 5.48 and 5.09 to

5.3, respectively (NSRC, 2006; Berhanu, 2014).

The temperature of Yilmana-Densa (Adet) varies

between 10.9 (Min) and 26.9°C (Max) with a mean

annual rainfall of 1164.1 mm. On the other hand,

Mecha District experienced an annual temperature

that ranges from 9.4 to 28.1

C with an annual

rainfall of 1454.5 mm (WAMSC, 2013). The

farming system of these districts is mainly mixed

crop-livestock production. Most farmers in the

district undertake both crop and livestock

production activities. Agriculture is mainly

characterized by rain-fed production system. The

major crops grown in the study areas include

maize, finger millet, tef, wheat, barley, green peas,

fava bean and vegetables.

2.2. Sampling procedures and participants

selection

The study population comprised of a researcher in

a public agricultural research organization,

extension personnel in extension offices and

bureaus of agriculture and rural development, seed

supplier organizations and farmers who produce

finger millet. The survey was undertaken with a

multi-stage sampling technique having three stages

that involve the selection of (1) sample zone and

districts, (2) Peasant associations and (3)

smallholder farmers. In the first stage, West Gojam

Zone and two Districts, namely Yilmana-Densa

and Mecha were selected purposively from all the

finger millet growing zones and districts based on

larger area coverage and production potential. In

the second stage, the study included four total

finger millet growing Peasant associations; two PA

from each district based on their area coverage and

production potential of finger millet. In the third

stage, 120 farm households were randomly selected

from lists of names of household head in the

peasant association. The sample size was

determined proportionally to the population size of

farmers.

2.3. Data collection and analysis

The information was collected on farmers’ seed

management practices: perception of seed cleaning,

seed sorting, seed storage, varietal obsolete and

seed security. Both qualitative and quantitative

primary data were collected from extension staffs,

researchers, farmers and key informant.

Respondents were interviewed independently with

a structured questionnaire. Further, additional

information was collected using Focus Group

Discussions (FGDs) and individual interviews on

socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of

sample farmers, seed selection, seed cleaning, seed

storage and seed security. In addition, an open-

ended questionnaire was used to capture

information during the focus group discussion from

key informants, who have knowledge and

experience about the management practice of finger

millet.

Descriptive statistics was employed to analyze the

seed management practice of finger millet. The

qualitative data generated using FGDs and key

informants were analyzed thematically. The

quantitative data analysis was performed using

SPSS (Version 21) computer package (IBM, 2012);

and results are presented in the form of frequency

distribution and percentage.

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. Socioeconomic and demographic

characteristics of sample farmers

Of the 120 sample households about 113 were

male-headed and seven were female-headed.

Mecha and Yilmana-Densa had 54 and 59 male-

headed households, respectively. Of the seven

female-headed households, five were in Mecha and

two were in Yilmana-Densa. The mean number of

male and female family members above 15 years

was 1.75 and 1.54, respectively. This group of

people is economically active workforce, which

helps farmers during crop production. On the other

hand, the mean number of male and female family

member less than 15 years old was 1.34 and 1.12,

respectively, which are participated mainly in cattle

herding (Table 1).

J. Agric. Environ. Sci. Vol. 6 No. 1 (2021) ISSN: 2616-3721 (Online); 2616-3713 (Print)

Publication of College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Bahir Dar University 3

Table 1: Mean family size and number of family members in sample households

Item

Yilmana-Densa District

Mecha District

Mean Std.

Family size

5.75

1.73

6.58

1.66

Male family member (>15 years)

1.75

1.07

1.76

1.07

Male family member (<15 years)

1.34

1.05

1.48

1.18

Female family member (>15 years)

1.54

0.87

1.78

0.74

Female family member (<15 years)

1.12

0.82

1.56

1.12

Std. = Standard deviation

Table 2: Age of farmer and level of education in sample household (n= 120)

Std. = Standard deviation; MHH = Male household head; FHH = Female household head

About 52.5% the sample respondents in Mecha and

36.1% in Yilmana-Densa district were illiterate.

About 63.9% of the respondents in Yilmana-Densa

district were literate where 19.6% had got a formal

education. In Mecha District, about 47.5% were

literate where 20.4% had exposure to formal

education. These results showed that more than

50% of the respondent were literate with different

level of education, that bring good opportunity for

agriculture extension service, which allows

farmers to make better decision and choice for

improvement of seed management practice. These

findings agree with that of Reimers and Klasen

(2012) and Oduro-Ofori et al. (2014) who also

discovered that the technology adoption of farmers

increases in relation to the level of education to

obtain maximum output.

The average age was 43.9 (Std. = 10.5) and 37.5

(Std =3.5) for male and female sample farmers in

Yilmana-Densa. The average age in Mecha was

45.04 (Std. = 8.6) and 46.4 (Std. = 4.2) for male-

female sample farmers, respectively (Table 2).

3.2. Farm and household resources

The results of the survey indicate that the average

farmlands owned by the farmers were 1.24 ha in

Mecha and 1.2 ha in Yilmana-Densa districts. From

interviewed farmers, 25.5% of Mecha and 31.1%

for Yilmana-Densa farmers’ have owned less than

1 ha of land. On the other hand, 8.5% of Mecha

and 6.4% of Yilmana-Densa farmers’ own more

than 2 ha of land (Table 3).

During the assessment of oxen, the result depicted

that 18.7%, 54.2%, 18.6% and 8.5% of Mecha,

owned more than two oxen, two oxen, single ox

and have no ox; similarly, 16.4%, 59%, 23% and

1.6% of Yilmana-Densa owned more than two

oxen, two oxen, single ox and have no ox,

respectively (Table 3). Farmers gave comparatively

large area coverage for finger millet production

from available cultivation of land. Finger millet is

among the highest labor demanding crops, farmers

said that it was the crop that most required

mechanization, particularly for threshing. Hence,

farmers have two and above two oxen, which

enables them to thresh timely by sharing their oxen

with relatives and neighbors (which is known as

wonfel) before deteriorating the seed quality

through high rainfall and sun damages.

Item

Yilmana-Densa district

Mecha District

Mean

Std.

Mean

Std.

Age MHH

43.9

10.5

45.04

8.6

Age FHH

37.5

3.5

46.4

4.2

Level of education

Number of

farmer

Percent of farmer

Number of farmer

Percent of farmer

Illiterate

36.1

52.5

Read and write

3.4

Adult education

39.3

23.7

Grade (1-4)

16.4

17.0

Grade (5-8)

1.6

1.7

Above

1.6

1.7

J. Agric. Environ. Sci. Vol. 6 No. 1 (2021) ISSN: 2616-3721 (Online); 2616-3713 (Print)

Publication of College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Bahir Dar University 4

Table 3: Farm and household resources of sample households (n=120)

Farm and household resource

Yilmana-Densa district

Mecha district

Mean

Std.

Mean

Std.

Number of oxen

1.9

0.7

1.93

1.03

Number of cattle

9.0

4.6

7.6

7.1

2012 amount of land cultivated (ha)

1.77

0.63

1.73

0.72

2012 rent farm size (ha)

0.57

0.54

0.49

0.5

2012 own land (ha)

1.2

0.57

1.24

0.62

Maize (ha)

0.32

0.13

0.51

0.27

Finger millet (ha)

0.26

0.098

0.54

0.25

Tef (ha)

0.62

0.25

0.13

0.24

Wheat (ha)

0.098

0.12

0.004

0.033

Barley (ha)

0.2

0.16

0.04

0.11

Green peas

0.08

0.24

0.0

Bean

0.08

0.19

0.17

0.06

Noug

0.0

0.04

0.14

Eucalyptus farm land (ha)

0.11

0.09

0.3

0.21

Std. = Standard deviation

3.3. Seed selection

Farmers are exercising several seed management

activities. One of them was seed sorting. About

72.5% of the respondents reported that both

husband and wife are responsible for seed sorting

while about 20.0% reported that women/wives

alone are responsible for seed sorting (Table 4).

About 58.3% of the respondents sorted their seeds

on the threshing ground after threshing while

37.5% of the respondents sorted the seeds during

planting. Only 4.2% of the respondents sorted the

seeds before harvesting (Table 4). Characteristics

of seeds such as size and weight are important

selection criteria.

The results of the present study showed generally

most farmers sort the seeds after threshing on the

threshing ground and in the store. These practices

help to maintain genetic diversity within the

cultivar and to contribute to the conservation of

finger millet genetic resources. However, during

the interview period, the respondents said that, as

compared to other cereal crops like teff, finger

millet seed and/or variety selection at harvesting

stage is low; which is because farmers did not give

more care to the crop due to its low productivity

and market demand. This kind of activity ascribed

how the crop gets low emphasis even by farmers.

In contrary to these results, Baniya et al. (2005)

reported that many farmers followed seed selection

during the harvesting of finger millet, while some

did this activity before harvest. The farmers either

select the better ears from the whole field or first

select a better area and select the better ears from

the fixed area only.

Table 4: Finger millet seed selection responsibility and seed selection stages

Seed selection practice

Number of respondents

Percentage

Responsible for selection

Both husband & wife

72.5

Women only

20.0

Men only

5.8

All family members

1.7

Total

120

100

Time of selection

On the field before harvesting

4.2

On threshing ground after threshing

58.3

On the store before planting

37.5

Total

120

100

J. Agric. Environ. Sci. Vol. 6 No. 1 (2021) ISSN: 2616-3721 (Online); 2616-3713 (Print)

Publication of College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Bahir Dar University 5

3.4. Seed cleaning

One of the practice exercised by farmers on finger

millet seed management is seed cleaning. All

respondent farmers used to clean seed during

threshing by winnowing using locally made

wooden material called “mankia/lamieda”.

Moreover, farmers also cleaned sorted and cleaned

seeds at planting using weight and size based

separating materials called “sefed”. The seeds are

cleaned usually two times using locally made

materials. Its main purpose is to improve the

physical quality of the seed by removing inert

matter, weeds and other crop seeds, and broken or

diseased/insect damaged seeds. These locally made

seed cleaning materials are also used by farmers in

different parts of the country and for different crop

species (Bishaw, 2004; Brikti et al., 2011; Birhanu

et al. 2016).

However, these cleaning methods that were used

by the respondent households in this study are

inadequate to ensure seed quality. Mechanical

devices, called separators, should have to get

emphasis for future to be established by farmers’

cooperative union and /or projects work on seed

sector. Cleaning separate unwanted seeds from

wanted ones and thus reduces the bulk to be

handled and stored, reduces potential vectors for

pathogens and pests, removes moist material to

maintain viability (Guzzomi et al., 2016).

3.5. Seed storage practice

According to the respondents, finger millet seed

does not have a storage problem. Accordingly,

97.5% of the respondents did not apply fungicide

or insecticide in the storage to prevent finger millet

seed from diseases and insect pest damages. Only

2.5% of respondents use zinc phosphide chemical

to control rodents. They did not use specialized or

airtight seed storage structures. About 14.2% and

85.8% of the respondents use sack and “Gushgusha

/Gota”, respectively to store finger millet seeds

(Table 5).

The grain storage structure “Gushgusha or Gota”

is locally made from a mixture of mud and teff or

barley straw. Both are kept in house and did not

have a mechanism to regulate the relative humidity

and the temperature. Hence, the existing finger

millet seed storage structures cannot ensure seed

quality and cause shorten seed longevity.

Therefore, farmers use fresh seeds the production

of finger millet. Regular replacement of seed may

contribute to maintain genetic diversity through

gene recombination as well as to improve the

existing landraces through natural selection.

Farmers in various countries use various storage

materials or structures for storage of finger millet

seed including small earthen pots, wooden vessel,

bamboo container, tin vessel and small plastic bags

(Baniya et al., 2005).

Farmers appreciate the long storability of finger

millet seed. It is not susceptible to major insect

pests such as weevil. This quality of finger millet

guaranteed farmers to save seed for bad times that

cause total crop failure due to unfavorable weather

condition such as drought. This peculiar feature of

finger millet makes it a priority crop in most

drought-prone areas of Africa and Asia. A similar

feature has been reported on another neglected crop

teff, which has an absence of serious storage pests

(Melkam and Mekbib, 2013).

Table 5: Farmers’ finger millet seed storage structures/materials

Storage structure and

Seed

Grain

Mix

Yilmana

Densa

Mecha

Total

Measurement taken

Sacks

11.667

2.5

Gota/Gushgusha

41.67

51.67

No chemical use

117

97.5

Chemical use

2.5

N = Number of farmers

3.6. Varietal status

Results showed that some farmers have terminated

growing different finger millet cultivars, which

were widely grown before in the districts (Table 6).

From 2002-2007 cropping season, 41.7% of the

respondents in Yilmana-Densa District stopped

growing a finger millet cultivar called Angedie.

Similarly, about 58.1% of the respondents from

Mecha District terminated Abate tikur from the

production system. During the period of 2008 to

2013, farmers in Yilmana-Densa District continued

J. Agric. Environ. Sci. Vol. 6 No. 1 (2021) ISSN: 2616-3721 (Online); 2616-3713 (Print)

Publication of College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Bahir Dar University 6

with the termination of Angedie variety and started

withdraw Abate tikur from the system. Similarly, in

Mecha District farmers continued with the

termination of Abate tikur, Angedie and Abate

necho from the system (Table 6). These obsoleting

of finger millet landraces might be due to small

landholdings and availability of high yielding

improved variety like Necho, Mecha and Degu

which may reduce the competitiveness of land

races.

Interviewed farmers were illustrated that norms of

self-reliance and social value by the community

forced the farmers to keep their own seed in

priority from other problems and these make

reluctant to admit receiving freely gifted seeds. The

finding on side location seed or other side sources,

such as exchange and purchasing seed of local

variety is considered as second seed source when

their own seed is not selected for sowing. This is

because of an absence of improved variety and

quality seed in the market.

Seed security is vital for food and nutrition

security. Reliability and availability of seeds at the

right time and in the right price, as well as easy

access, are crucial for poor smallholder farmers,

but such hallmarks might not be universal in all

systems. Farmers’ seed systems are often

considered good traditional practices for seed

security and therefore, for ensuring food

sovereignty. The present findings showed that

100% of seed was obtained from the farmer seed

system. Similarly, Louwaars (2007) reported that

over 60 to 85% of the seed was found from farmer

seed system depending upon the crops and

countries. Sthapit and Padulosi (2011) also reported

that close to 99% seeds of neglected and

underutilized crop species sourced from farmer’s

seed system. According to Wekundah (2012), the

informal seed supply system also provides about

80-100% of the seed used in the African states.

The farmers’ practice indicated that formal seed

multiplication, certification and supply systems do

not exist for finger millet and are not sufficiently

available for other crops in the study areas. But, it

ensured the survival of landraces to obtain the seed

they need and enables them to produce for their

own consumption, sale and for their social relations

within the villages. However, the presence of seed

for sowing cannot assure the existence of sufficient

food to eat. This trend continues till now

because of the absence of improved seed

supply in the market.

Table 6: Status of finger millet varieties in the study area

Finger millet withdraw from

production system

Yilmana-Densa district (n=12)

Mecha district (n=31)

Between 2002— 2007

Abate necho

16.7

22.6

Angedie

41.7

22.6

Abate tikur

58.1

Total*

58.4

103.3

Between 2008— 2013

Abate necho

8.3

35.5

Angedie

33.3

41.9

Abate tikur

58.3

54.8

Nech dekie

3.2

Total

100

135.4

N = Number of farmers, *the same farmer practiced repeated response

3.7. Household seed security and relation to

wealth category

All the respondents in Yilmana-Densa District and

98.3% of the respondents in Mecha District save

their own finger millet seed for their next cropping

season (Table 7). The wealth category of the

respondents was identified on the basis of the

following characteristics, which includes hectare of

farmland, plantation, livestock and constructed

houses. The result showed that, about 21.3% rich

farmers; 47.5% medium farmers; 29.5% poor

farmers and 1.6% very poor farmers in Yilmana-

Densa. In correspondence to the above figures,

28.8%, 54.2%, 17% and 0% of the respondents

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Publication of College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Bahir Dar University 7

found to be in Mecha District, respectively (Table

7). Differences in wealth category have been

documented in this study. Wealthier households

were produce higher production and more self-

sufficient in food than poor households. But, seed

self-sufficiency have priority in all wealth groups

rather than eating or selling a large portion of their

harvest. The community norms and social values

attributed to retain and store their own seed for the

next season or for unfavorable weather condition;

and surprisingly the poor farmers can assure their

own seed through side location seed sources by off-

farm incomes and selling sheep and goats.

Table 7: Farmers’ perception for reasons of seed security in the study area

Seed security

Yilmana-Densa District (n = 61)

Mecha District (n = 59)

Secured farmer

100

In secured farmer

Own seed

100

98.3

Purchase seed

47.5

28.8

Exchange seed

47.5

42.4

Wealth category for seed security

Secured farmer

100

Rich

21.3

28.8

Medium

47.6

54.2

Poor

29.5

Very poor

1.6

N = Number of farmers, same farmers practiced more than one criterion

4. Conclusions and Recommendations

Finger millet is a multipurpose staple crop in the

study areas. Farmers save and use seeds of local

cultivars, due to the unavailability of improved

varieties. Quality of the farmer saved seeds is

relatively poor since it is not produced and

processed as per certified seed production and

processing procedures. The existing farmers’ seed

management practices found to be useful in

maintaining genetic diversity and seed security in

the study areas. However, high yielding crops

threaten diversity of finger millet varieties and

farmers started withdrawing the production of

some landraces. Therefore, it is critical to collect,

conserve and improve the existing finger millet

landraces. Establishing and strengthening linkages

between stakeholders such as cooperative union,

NGOs and government organizations for

indigenous knowledge management practices in

seed selection, conservation and seed security is

necessary.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Ministry of Science and

Higher Education and Debre Markos University for

granting fund for the completion of this research

work. The authors also thank Farmers, Bureau of

Agriculture and Rural Development of Amhara

Region, Amhara Region Seed Agency, Amhara

Seed Enterprise, Ethiopian Seed Enterprise, Adet

Agricultural Research Center and Development

Agents at peasant association for providing primary

and secondary information.

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