Cost-Benefit Analysis of Sesame Production under Improved and Traditional/ Farmer’s Practice/ in Kafta-humera, Tigray Region, Ethiopia

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the cost-benefit of sesame production per hectare under improved and (traditional sesame production) farmer's practice. The primary data were collected from the sesame farmers who cultivate both improved and traditional sesame production (plot with improved sesame agronomic technologies on one side and farmers practice on the other side) were selected randomly from the participants of households on the cluster-based large scale demonstration of sesame production during 2019 in kafta-humera district, Western Zone of Tigray, Ethiopia. The study found that farmers were able to generate an average gross income of Ethiopian Birr (ETB) 28997 per hectare (ha) from the improved sesame production, whereas, ETB 19215.21 per ha from their practice, respectively. The average cost of cultivation for improved sesame production was ETB 11857.89 ha and ETB 9259.63 per ha under (traditional sesame production) farmers practice. Therefore, the net profit of sesame production under improved and traditional sesame production was ETB 17139.69 and ETB 9955.58 respectively. This implied that farmers could earn an additional net income of 7184.11 per ha by practicing the recommended sesame technologies. This shows that although the net profit under the improved production system was higher than traditional/farmers practice, higher costs of production were also recorded in improved sesame production than traditional /farmers practice as farmers spend a lot of money on sesame cultivation especially weeding and harvesting. Hence, the government and private sectors should give more emphasis to introduce mechanized row planter, captivators, and combined harvester machines to reduce labor costs especially when the cost of labor is high. Moreover, the price of sesame seed was lower than the previous three-four years. Hence, agricultural economists should consider setting up a sesame price policy to help farmers to gain more profit from selling sesame.