Abstract:
The government concerns have shifted from earlier emphasis on raising foreign exchange earnings by cash crops
and the establishment of large-scale commercial farms and neglected cereal production from subsistence farmers
which accounted more than 80% of the cultivated area. During the 1974–1991, by large towards increasing
productivity of smallholders to attain food self-sufficiency at national level through research-generated information
and technologies, increasing the supply of industrial and export crops and ensuring the rehabilitation and
conservation of natural resource base. However, population growth, environmental degradation, climate-related
decline of yield, low level of farm input innovation, capital constraints are among the pressing constraints. The
direction, the rate of change and the level of steps the agriculture sector taking up on the ladder of transformation to
commercialized agriculture from its initial subsistence. Of course, it should be noted that, except for the progress
made during the last two and half decades, the agricultural sector in Ethiopia had remained stagnant for centuries
with limited progress in few specific areas. Consequently, the outcome of the suggestion made in this paper is
believed to serve as problem area indicators for concerned stakeholders to develop and implement corrective
measures that could help to accelerate the speed of transforming the existing agriculture into profitable agriculture.
Crops such as maize, teff, and wheat within the category of cereals have shown an increment that ranges from 1.65
qt/ha to 23.21 qt/ha for maize; from 0.48 qt/ha to 19.89 qt/ha for teff; and from 1.16 to 13.21 qt/ha for wheat over
the last five years (2013/14-2017/18). Similarly, crops such as faba beans and linseed have shown an increment that
ranges from 0.36 to 14.91 qt/ha for faba beans and from 3.60 to 25.67 qt/ha for linseed over 2013/14 and 2017/18
estimates following the same pattern, the results of the 2018/19. It is hoped and expected that these yield increments
would rise further in future with the commitment and adoption of suggestions forwarded in this paper.
