Caution in Developing Technologies for Smallholder Farmers: A Case of Maize Plant Spacing and Seed Rate Using Maresha Plow in Semi-Arid Farming in Ethiopia

摘要

This paper discusses the amount of maize seed required per unit area and the spacing formed using the Ethiopian traditional plow -maresha-, based on data obtained from randomly selected smallholder maize growers. The results showed that farmers planted 64% and 180% higher amounts of seed in row-planting and broadcasting, respectively than the research-recommended seed rate per hectare for maize. The maresha plow opens a 50 cm spacing between rows, compared to the recommended 75 cm. It was found thatthe value of the seed saved by adopting row-planting exceeded the value of hiring labor for row-planting at peak time to solve household farm labor shortage. Thus, the recommended maize row spacing and seed rate should be reconsidered in line with farmers' plow used in maize planting.