NEWS

Blue Nile Journal of Agricultural Research (BNJAR) Advisory Board Held its Annual Meeting

The annual meeting conference for the Blue Nile Journal of Agricultural Research (BNJAR) Advisory Board took place on Monday, April 14, 2025, at the venue of Amhara Agricultural Research Institute (ARARI). Dr. Hailu Kendie, Editor-in-chief of BNJAR, presented the annual report that elaborates on activities that have been done so far to improve the quality and acceptance of the journal. The gathering served as a pivotal moment for all involved members to convene, deliberate, and strategize on the future directions and initiatives of the journal, fostering an atmosphere of collaboration and innovation within the agricultural research community. The Editor-in-Chief, known for his expertise and dedication in the field, led the reports with a profound sense of purpose, encapsulating the essence of BNJAR's commitment to advancing agricultural knowledge and practices. Overall, the event exemplified the journal's unwavering dedication to excellence and its role as a premier platform for disseminating cutting-edge research and insights that contribute to the sustainable growth and development of agricultural practices in Ethiopia and beyond. The Journal Advisory Board achieved important milestones through a series of critical decisions that were vital in attracting the attention of the scientific community. As a result of these decisions, researchers were encouraged to actively participate and submit their papers for publication in the journal. The Board's strategic initiatives effectively positioned the journal as a favorable and respected platform for scholars to communicate their findings and contribute to the academic discourse. This proactive approach not only facilitated increased engagement from the research community but also enhanced the journal's reputation as a reputable publication outlet. BNJAR stands as a reputable, peer-reviewed, open-access academic journal dedicated to disseminating top-tier research in the field of agricultural sciences. As a publication overseen by ARARI since its inception in 2019, the journal serves as an invaluable platform for researchers, scholars, and practitioners looking to share their insights and discoveries within the realm of agriculture. Through a lens focusing on sustainability, innovation, and collaboration, BNJAR endeavors to push the boundaries of agricultural knowledge and provide solutions to pertinent challenges faced not only in Ethiopia but globally. The journal's broad range of content, comprising full-length research articles, review pieces, and informative short communications, tackles diverse subjects including crop science, soil science, animal science, agricultural economics, and beyond. With issues published biannually in both print and online mediums, the team is diligently working towards releasing volume 6, issue 1 by July 2025, promising a wealth of impactful research contributions for readers and the agricultural community as a whole.

ARARI renamed its biotechnology laboratory in the name of Dr. Charles Higgins

Amhara Agricultural Research Institute (ARARI) acknowledged Dr. Charles Higgins and renamed its biotechnology laboratory in the name of him. Dr. Charles Higgins is a long-time ally and heartily partner of ARARI who has contributed a lot for the establishment and advancement of the institute's biotechnology laboratory. Dr. Higgins is also a dedicated collaborator and supporter of ARARI’s potato research program. Dr. Higgins is an American agronomist, plant breeder, farmer, writer, philanthropist, mentor, potato ambassador and leader who runs his own farm and he is a man who has a great affection for Ethiopia. He has become so well-known through the potato industry, is usually enough to establish Higgins as the person being referenced. To improve the livelihood of potato growing farmers in Ethiopia, Dr. Higgins started the project, "Ethiopian Sustainable Food Project', in 2007 and has been supporting ARARI a lot through the project. Dr Higgins supported ARARI in strengthening its tissue culture lab facility and establishment of several screen houses for high-quality mini-tuber production. He has played a great role in the establishment of ARARI's Molecular laboratory station in Bahir Dar. Since purchasing and transporting of laboratory equipment and chemicals from the international market demands high capital and has a lot of challenges, Dr. Higgins simplified all these challenges of ARARI by purchasing and transporting of tissue culture and Molecular laboratory equipment and chemicals covering all the costs. His support in potato utilization (mainly for solar drying construction and promotion) is also encouraging and ARARI has benefited in these area. Beyond supporting potato research and multiplication activities, Dr. Higgins supported food oat breeding and seed production activities for the three varieties released so far. He, together with his wife, Judy and friends frequently travels to Ethiopia every year and advice Ethiopian potato researchers and the ARARI management for providing disease free potato planting material to farmers. He is leading the fund raising and planning of the Ethiopian Sustainable Food Project. In general, his contribution is immense in achieving access to improved potato seed to Ethiopian farmers. Through the Ethiopian Sustainable Food Project, Dr Higgins is supporting plantlet production using potato Tissue Lab and mini-tuber production using the available 13 screen houses of the institute; potato seed distribution and promotion to farmers using demonstration, community based seed production and pre-scaling up approaches; on-farm seed potato storage, solar dehydration of potato and vegetables, nutrition research and information dissemination; potato bread and potato utilization promotion and oat research, breeder seed production and promotion. Due to these and other top contribution of Dr. Charles Higgins, the ARARI management decided to acknowledge Dr Higgins and thus the institute is proud to announce the renaming of ARARI Tissue Culture Lab to the "Dr Higgins Biotechnology Laboratory" in honour of Dr. Higgins contributions to improve the livelihoods of Ethiopian Potato farmers. During the renaming ceremony, Dr. Higgins representative and board member of Ethiopian Sustainable Food Project, Professor Walter De Jong has attended and welcomed ARARI's decision. Dr. Asimare Dejen, Director General of ARARI elaborated Dr. Higgins's contribution in the agricultural sector and appreciated his dedication, commitment, and heartfelt support for ARARI and his affection for Ethiopia.

Development of a Decision Support Tool (DST) for Fertilizer Recommendations

The development of a Decision Support Tool (DST) for fertilizer recommendations tailored to Ethiopia's farming system is crucial for boosting agricultural productivity and advancing the country toward precision agriculture. In pursuit of this objective, the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), regional research institutes, and international collaborators have been engaged in ongoing research to create a machine learning-based DST model. This tool is designed to provide farmers with accurate, data-driven fertilizer recommendations, specifically tailored to individual farms or plots of arable land. Dr. Birhanu Agumas, Senior Researcher at the Amhara Agricultural Research Institute (ARARI) and a member of the national research team’s technical committee working on the model-based DST, outlined the research process and its goals. He emphasized that, over the past three years, extensive research has been conducted to modernize fertilizer recommendations nationwide. The results are currently undergoing review at both national and regional levels. Dr. Birhanu explained that the DST is based on machine learning algorithms, which utilize legacy data spanning several years, along with data from nutrient omission experiments and other fertilizer rate trials conducted over the past three or more years. The DST integrates crop response data from field experiments, as well as climate, soil, and topographic data, which serve as key variables. He further emphasized that the model was developed using comprehensive data representing Ethiopia’s major crop-growing areas, ensuring that it is relevant across diverse agricultural zones in the country. Recalling the origins of the DST development process, Dr. Birhanu noted that international research institutions such as Alliance Bioversity International – CIAT, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) had previously developed their own fertilizer recommendation models. However, these models were not adopted by Ethiopia’s Ministry of Agriculture, EIAR, or regional research institutions. Dr. Birhanu explained that introducing multiple models would cause confusion among smallholder farmers, who need clear and unified guidance. As a result, the various institutions decided to collaborate on creating a single, harmonized DST that aligns with Ethiopia’s soil and climate conditions and meets the specific needs of local farmers. In response, a collaborative team of researchers, data scientists, and modellers from national, regional, and international institutions came together to design the machine learning-driven DST. After extensive discussions, analysis, and data integration, the harmonized DST has been successfully developed and is now being tested on farmers' fields across the country. ARARI, as a key regional research institute, has played a significant role in executing field experiments, conducting data analysis, and contributing to the development of the DST through its research centers in Adet, Sirinka, Gonder, Sekota, and Debirbirhan. These centers provided valuable data that fed into the model's development, strengthening its applicability and accuracy. Dr. Birhanu concluded that the DST is currently undergoing rigorous validation on farmers’ fields throughout Ethiopia. After completing this validation and piloting phase, the tool will be officially rolled out. It will then serve as an essential resource for farmers, policymakers, agricultural experts, and researchers, providing them with reliable, data-driven recommendations on fertilizer use. This will ultimately enhance agricultural productivity and support sustainable farming practices across Ethiopia.

የአፈር አሲዳማነት መባባስ

	በአማራ ክልል የአፈር አሲዳማነት መባባስ የተለያዩ ሰብልን ከምርት ውጭ እያደረገ በመሆኑን የአማራ ግብርና ምርምር ኢንስቴትዩት የችግሩን አሳሳቢነት በመረዳት መንግስታዊ እና መንግስታዊ ያልሆኑ ድርጅቶች በመቀናጀት መስራት እንደሚገባ አሳሰበ።

የአለም አቀፍ ድንች ምርምር ማዕከል(CIP) ከአማራ ግብርና ምርምር ኢንስቲትዩት እና ግብርና ቢሮ ጋር በመሆን  በአማራ ክልል በፓይለት ደረጃ ስራ ለመስራት እና የስኳር ድንችን ለማስፋት የሚያስችል የአሰልጣኞች ስልጠና ተሰጠ

የአለም አቀፍ ድንች ምርምር ማዕከል (international potato center) በዋነኛነት በድንች እና  በስኳር ድንች ምርምር እና ልማት ላይ  በሀገሪቱ ላለፉት ሶስት አስር አመታት ሲሰራ እንደ ቆየ ይታወቃል  ይህ ተቋም በሀገራዊ ምርምር ስርአት ውስጥ የተለያዩ የድንች ዝርያዎችን የማውጣት ሂደት ላይ ጀርምፕላዝም(Germplasm) እና የገንዘብ ድጋፍ በመስጠት ግብርናውን ሲያግዝ ቆይቷል።   ምርምር ማዕከሉ ከአጋር አካላት ጋር በመሆን ለሚቀጥሉት አመታት በብርቱኳናማው ስኳር ድንች ላይ በክልሉ ለማሰፋት ከክልል፣ከዞን እና ከወረዳ ለመጡ የግብርና ሙያተኞች በተግባር የተደገፈ የአሰልጣኞች ስልጠና ለሁለት ተከታታይ ቀናት በ/ባህርዳር ከተማ ተሰጧል። የስልጠናው ይዘትም የስኮር ድንች ዘር አመራረትና አያያዝ፣ ድህረ ምረት አያያዝ የበሸታና ተባይ ልየታና እንክብካቤ ፣ የእሴት ሰንሰለት ዙሪያን ያካተተ ነው።ብርቱካናማ ስኳር ድንች ላይ ቱክረት አድርጎ የሚሰራበት ዋነኛ ምክንያት  ከእናቶች እና ህፃናት የመግብ ስርአት ጋር ተያይዞ  ሰብሉ ብዙ ንጥረ ነገር የያዘ እና በተለይም በቫይታሚን A የበለፀገ በመሆኑ ፣ድርቅን መቋቋም በመቻሉ  ፣ አርሶ አደሩ በቀላሉ በጓሮው ሊያመርተው ስለሚችል እና ብዙ ጉልበትና ግብአት ስለማይፈልግ መሆኑ ተገልጿል። በአለም አቀፍ ድንች ምርምር ማዕከል አግሮኖሚስት የሆኑት አቶ አብዮት አራጋው እንደገለፁት ፕሮጀክቱ ከአሁን ቀደም በአማራ ክልል ሲሰራ እንደቆየ  አስታውሰው አሆን ደግሞ በጥናት ተተንትኖ ልንሰራ እንድንችል በኢትዮጽያ ጤና ጥበቃ ሚኒስትር  ከአፍሪካ ዲቨሎፕመንት ባንክ (Africa Development Bank) በተገኘው የገንዘብ ድጋፍ በተመረጡ ቦታዎች እንዲሁም  ችግሩ ባለበት እና ለብርቱካናማው ስኳር ድንች ተስማሚ ስነ-ምህዳር ባላቸው አከባቢዎች በመለየት ከአማራ ግብርና ምርምር ኢንስቲትዩት እና ከክልሉ ግብርና ቢሮ ጋር በመሆን ይሰራል። ስለሆነም የዛሬው ስልጠናም የዚሁ አካል በመሆኑ ከክልል ግብርና፣ ከዞንና ከወረዳ ለመጡ ጉዳዩ ለሚመለከታቸው ባለሙያዎች የአሰልጣኞች ስልጠና ተሰጧል ብለዋል።

A seminar held on Agricultural data management and Meta data analysis

Dr. Birhanu Agumas, Senior Researcher at ARARI specializing in soil fertility management, underscored the critical role of agricultural data management and meta-data analysis within the research system and on a national scale. He emphasized that effective management of agricultural data is essential for generating agricultural technologies, fostering innovation, and promoting data reuse. A well-maintained data repository, he argued, facilitates evidence-based decision-making for policymakers, leaders, agricultural experts, and researchers. Dr. Birhanu also highlighted the significance of meta-data management for analyzing big data and enabling data sharing and reuse across the research community. He explained that meta-analysis, a method used to study variables across multiple scientific studies, plays a crucial role in informing high-level decisions. Using acid soil management research as a case study, Dr. Birhanu demonstrated how data collection and meta-data analysis are conducted at the national level to advance scientific understanding and agricultural practices. During the discussion session, participants emphasized the importance of enhancing ARARI’s data management systems to support ongoing and future research initiatives effectively.