Introduction

Barley in Ethiopia is used for human food, home-made beverages and beer. Its straw is used for animal feed and mattresses. It is produced in the highlands at altitudes ranging from 1800 to 3300 m above sea level, where poor soil fertility, frost, waterlogging and moderate soil acidity are major problems. It occupies an area of about 0.85 million hectares out of a total crop land of 6.0 million hectares with a productivity of about 1.2 t/ha (Central Statistics Office, 1984). At high altitudes it may be the only crop grown, with or without oats; and among the small grains it is the earliest to become available for consumption at the end of the rainy season.

Barley is grown in the main rainy season of June–September (‘meher’) on sloping and better drained clay soils. Some barley is grown in the short rainy season (‘belg’) on bottom lands in some regions. A few areas also grow barley from October to January (‘bega’), sometimes with supplementary irrigation. Double cropping is a common practice in the major barley growing regions: barley–barley in ‘belg’ and ‘meher’ seasons in Shewa, Welo, Arsi, and Bale; barley–barley in ‘meher’ and ‘bega’ in Gojam; and barley–pulses in Gondar.

The level of management is traditional. Farmers use their own landraces in most cases. Application of inorganic fertilizers and use of insecticides and herbicides are fairly low. The landraces are tolerant to marginal soil conditions.