The Role of Crop Genetic Diversity in Coping with Agricultural Production Shocks: Insights from Eastern Ethiopia
No hay miniatura disponible
Fecha
Título de la revista
ISSN de la revista
Título del volumen
Editor
Resumen
Descripción
Improving agricultural productivity and farm level resilience to agricultural production shocks is a critical component of reducing poverty and improving household food security throughout the developing world, and particularly in Ethiopia which is among the poorest countries in the world. This paper explores how agricultural households in the Hararghe region of eastern Ethiopia, an area rich in crop genetic diversity, but with low and variable agricultural productivity and high rates of p overty, manage their crop genetic resources to cope with drought, a prevalent source of agricultural production shocks. Our analysis looks at reasons for cultivating modern varieties versus landrace crop varieties of sorghum, and the implications for farm level resilience to drought as well as choice of coping strategy when such shocks occur. The analysis is run using a unique dataset collected during 2002-2003 production season when eastern Ethiopia experienced a major drought with widespread c rop failure ensuing.