WOLLEGA UNIVERSITY, SHAMBU CAMPUS
                                            FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE
                                       DEPARTMENT OF PLANT SCIENCE

INTRODUCTION

The agricultural sector greatly influences economic performance in Ethiopia. With a total area of about 1.13 million km2 and about 51.3 million hectares of arable land, Ethiopia has a great potential for agricultural development. However, only about 11.7 million hectares of land (22.8%) is currently being cultivated. Nearly 55% of all smallholder farmers operate on one hectare or less. The agricultural sector employs over 85% of the labor force, contributing about 43% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 90% of export income.
The country has diverse physical and social environments and a great diversity of tropical, subtropical and temperate climates, soil and vegetation. The variability in environmental factors has an important implication on the diversity of plants in the country. The elevations provide for temperature differences for growing several kinds of crops. A wide variety of crops are found growing in various parts of the country. In the highlands, where cool temperature prevails, common temperate crops are grown. Many tropical and sub-tropical crops are also grown in low to mid altitudes of the country. The country is a center of origin and/or diversity for many plant species including several cultivated crops, such as coffee, sorghum, “teff”, durum wheat, finger millet, barley, “noug”, safflower, sesame, castor bean, faba bean, etc.Read More