Identification and Prioritization of Major Agricultural Production and Productivity Constraints in the Case of Basketo Special District of Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Community level problem identification (CLIP) survey were undertaken in Basketo special district in 2016/17 by the objective of identifying, generating and prioritizing different crop, natural resource management, livestock, marketing and technology related problems for further study. Groups were selected purposively from three representative agro ecology of highland, midland and lowland and contains youth, men headed and women headed farmers. Focus group discussion, transact walk, structured observation and key informant interview were undertaken to collect data. Agricultural production constraint data were collected and prioritized by farmers themselves. Lack of access to improved seed, disease and pests, loss of soil fertility, lack of improved breeds, animal diseases, low or limited feed supply in quality and quantity, knowledge and skill gap on forage production, poor market linkage and poor management, soil erosion, land degradation, deforestation, and lack of access to credit are some bottlenecks of agricultural production in the district.

keywords: Agricultural production constraints, CLIP, Focus group discussion