Major Onion (Allium cepa L.) Production Challenges in Ethiopia: A Review

Abstract

Onion is an important vegetable crop, which has produced worldwide including of Ethiopia for its daily uses and economic benefits. The beginning of its production was traced back to the introduction of planting material from Sudanese and recently it has produced intensively and by now smallholder farmers in most parts of the country produces the crop. Despite to its lower productivity, which brings below the world average, onion is becoming as the sources of livelihood for many peoples who have engaged in the production and trading. The main reason for this lower productivity of the crop is most probably due to lack of improved onion cultivars, inappropriate agronomic practices and a little-given attention to the crop production. Hence, most of the grower uses the planting material that has obtained from their local markets, from semi-formal seed producers and from imported seeds (not tested for its quality) which are inferior in yield, easily susceptible to diseases and insect pests and none adapted to wider agro-ecologies. Currently, therefore, the absence of an authorized body that produces and distributes the improved onion seed materials at the country level is the main challenges of the sector. However, the area under cultivation is increasing from time to time both under rain feed and irrigation conditions due to its economic profitability. Also, an inevitable yield and yield component improvement activities including of plant nutrient management, crop water requirements and scheduling programs, plant population densities, and disease and insect pest control systems were identified. Therefore, this paper mainly to review on the major onion production challenges in the country.

Keywords: Allium cepa L., Challenges, Ethiopia, Onion, Production

DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/9-7-06

Publication date: April 30^th 2019