Recently, Mesha Woredaa of Hadiya Zone in collaboration with the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) organized a field day visit in its wheat producing farms for a team comprising farmers, researchers, government officials and journalists. Farmers in the same wereda are harvesting high wheat production applying modern agricultural inputs and technologies, and preventing various types of crop diseases and rusts.

Farmer Gebero Eirbeto said, "We are aggressively working in cooperation with agricultural experts to develop modern farming system that utilize the necessary agricultural inputs and control disease prevention methods." He cultivated 4.5 hectare land with rust-resistant wheat variety provided by EIAR; he expects 160 quintals this season. His farm was attacked by the rust a few years ago and he lost almost all of his wheat as a result. Currently, he could prevent the rust in cooperation with agricultural experts. "If the cooperation continues like this, we are able to cultivate better crops and the nation would not face shortage of food," according to Gebero.

Another farmer Getachew Ergudo sowed a wheat variety called Ali-Doro in his own farm. This variety is becoming very popular among farmers and registering promising results. He sowed 30 kg wheat seeds in less than half hectares of land. "I utilized technologies, modern cultivation methods and fertilizers such as Urea and DAP to boost productivity." Though EIAR sustains the support of rust preventing tools, its assistance need to continue for farmers as many farms required spraying more than once.

Other farmers who didn't have this experience before said that the field day was a means to raise awareness and share experiences to boost production and productivity in their own farms. They demonstrated commitment to benefit from the implementation of full farming package preparing plots, using rust-resistant seed and effective pesticides as well as implementing scientific methods for increased production and productivity.

In this regard, EIAR National Wheat Research Programme Coordinator Habtemariam Zegeye said that since the launching of wheat research in the country, varieties of wheat have been released based on their conducive environment and agro-ecology. Currently, Ali-Doro, a variety released in 2007, has been famed for resisting disease and rust, apart from increasing productivity, he added. The management and eradication of this disease and others will be critical in order to ensure the long term food security of the nation.

Habtemariam also commented that the farmers should use different seed varieties to control emerging diseases and rust. Currently, farmers are improving their productivity benefiting from zonal extension programme and support from the Ministry of Farming and Natural Resources, EIAR, private pesticide and fertilizer suppliers.

According to Habtemariam, farmers from Hadiya Zone are still main actors in producing 40 quintals of wheat per hectare; but, if farmers could manage the implementation properly, the variety has a potential to harvest 65 quintals per hectare.

EIAR Technology Multiplication and Seed Research Director Dr. Abebe Atlaw said that when yellow rust had been seen in 2010 in some parts of the country, rust-resistant variety had been distributed to the farmers. Presently, EIAR has been undertaking efforts to adopt new varieties, and scaling up and then distributing the effective outcomes to other farming areas. Although there have been efforts in distributing rust-resistant varieties to farmers, it is crucial to implement full farming package for increased productivity, Dr. Abebe noted.

Hadiya Zone Farming and Natural Resource Bureau Head Teshale Yohannes also said that though there are ten woredas in Hadiya Zone, seven are notable as wheat cluster that covers 40,000 hectare wheat farms. Mesha Woreda is among the most productive areas in wheat production and productivity in the zone.

According to Teshale, though good results have been registered in preventing rust, there remain a lot to be done to distribute the newly found seed varieties evenly to the end users or farmers. In addition, the engagement of researchers in identifying disease-resistant crops is very important to bring about the expected change.

Climate change is driving the speed and frequency of today's new wheat rust problems. It provides the ideal conditions for these new rust races to spread across many countries.

In sum, most wheat researchers and breeders need to strengthen the protection of plants through scientific methods; they ought to develop adequate wheat varieties with rust-resistance genes that meet the rising demand.

Rust resistant variety of wheat helps farmers to raise production.