Sweet Potato Agronomy Research in Ethiopia: Summary of Past Findings and Future Research Directions

Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam) is economically important food crop in Ethiopia. Since its introduction, numerous agronomic research activities were carried out in agricultural research centers, non-governmental organizations and universities. The objective of this piece of work is to document available research findings in a usable manner and present it to first national sweet potato workshop held between 6-7 June 2013, SARI head quarter, Awassa, Ethiopia. Agronomic research has been carried out on preparation of planting materials, curing vine cuttings, planting methods, depth of planting, plant density, planting time, cropping systems, and etc. Results showed that sweet potato crop has a potential of 50 to 60 t/ha in Ethiopia and the length of vines to be used for planting shall be 30 to 40 cm. Weeding trials elaborated that weeding twice on 30-40DAS and 70DAS regardless of the study sites would suffice for the crop. Planting date experiments justified early planting with the onset of rainfall in non irrigated fields. However, the results of population density and fertilizer regimes varied across locations and varieties. Thus generation and promotion of site specific recommendations are of paramount importance for root crops like sweet potato