Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) technology development and promotion for sustainable food security and commercialization in Awi zone, Northwestern Ethiopia

Abstract Potato is one of the most important highland crops that highly contribute to food security in different parts of Ethiopia as well as in the world. A major constraint for potato production and productivity includes lack of high yielding varieties, low soil fertility, poor crop management practice, drought, Insect pest, diseases, weeds, poor post-harvest handling techniques, and poor linkages of value chain actors, low dry matter and starch content. The major objectives of this project are to introduce best-performed genotypes with good pest resistance, improve potato cultivation techniques with appropriate agronomic practices, to identify and manage major pests of potato and their effects on yield loss, analyses potato value chain actors and production economics, evaluate post-harvest handling of potato. The project will be carried out using different experimental designs (Randomized Complete Block Design, split plot, lattice arrangement, single plot), sampling methods (random and systematic sampling techniques), both qualitative and quantitative data will be collected and analysed using different statistical software packages (SAS, SPSS, Genstat, PBTools).