Metema Woreda Communication Affair Office

      

 Metema Woreda. North Gondor Administrative Zone. North West Cash Crop (NWC) Livelihood Zone. A food sufficient livelihood zone. Own crop production ...www.feg-consulting.com/feg-shared-folder/liu/.../Metema.pdfAccording to the study conducted by Mbwika (2003), sesame in Ethiopia is grown mainly for export market and only about 5% is believed consumed locally. However, this figure is much inflated than the assessment results compiled by FAO, which estimated that 38% of the total production is consumed locally. Results of the current research revealed that 94% of the total production is supplied to the market and this figure is very much similar to the results of the study conducted by Mbwika (2003). The major sesame growing areas in Ethiopia are located in the Northwest; Humera (Tigray), near the boarder with Sudan and Eritrea; Metema (North Gondar), Chanka (Wolega), Pawi (Benshangul Gumuze) and Wollo. In 1974, a total of 160,000 ha were estimated to have been under sesame production. By 1982, the area under sesame cultivation shrunk to below 61,000 hectares (Omran, undated; cited in Mbwika, 2003). However, drastic improvements have been observed since 1996 in area coverage and total production. Fore example, In 2004/2005 production year, nationally sesame scored 136220 ha land coverage and 1, 153,882 quintals of production and average yield of 8.47 quintals per hectare. Estimates of BOA for the period of 1996 - 2002 showed that North Gondar Zone takes the lion share in the region's sesame area (86%) and production (90%) and the average productivity of sesame in the Zone is estimated to be 4.6 qt/ha. CSA 2001/2002 agricultural sample enumeration survey result revealed that out of the North Gondar woredas, which are potentially recognized, Metema woreda again takes the lead in terms of production i.e. 46.4% of the total

production.