Balegreen’s Seed Production & Distribution status By Muluken Takele Balegreen Spice & Grain Development plc. On ILRI-N2Africa Annual Planning & Public – Private Partnership (PPP) Validation Workshop Jan ILRI Campus, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Introduction of Balegreen Bale Green Spice and Grain Development PLC is an agricultural firm established under Ethiopian commercial law having an investment license concerning to its agricultural activities from the Oromia regional state of Ethiopia, The farm has 274 hectares of land from the government and it is strategically located in south eastern part of the country in 550km, Ginnir woreda, Bale Zone, Oromia region. & also BG has a head office which is located beside megenagna square Mulugeta Zeleke bldg, first floor, office no. 105.

BG continued… The project area is endowed with fertile land and sufficient rainfall distribution in which production is possible twice a year using the natural rainfall. The farm site is suitable for the production of various types of cereals, spices and pulses. Moreover, for the land is fairly plain, mechanized farming is possible in the cultivation and harvesting process to maintain uncompromised quality for farm products` and also to achieve a maximum yield. Now a days Balegreen has shift its paradigm from conventional grain development to seed producing and distributing.

BG continued… Balegreen is currently producing spices seed, Pulses seed, cereals seed & livestock feed seed and green forage.

Seed Production & Distribution Balegreen has immense experience of fifteen years on input utilization and mechanized farming. As a result Balegreen had utilized inoculants and basic seed of chickpea Kabuli variety, which is obtained from ACOS Ethiopia & ESE. In Bale zone 575,000 ha of land is utilized for farming practice. 225,000 ha of land is cultivated during Belg season and the rest 350,000 ha of land is cultivated for Meher season. And 225,000 ha of land is stay idle after the Belg production is harvested of which 42,000 ha of land is suitable for chickpea production in Ginnir woreda. Therefore Balegreen is working with different stakeholders to introduce double cropping, especially production of chickpea in modern technology and in bulk quantity.

Seed production… Balegreen is now working with out growers who are interested on chickpea production and it had done different activities like identifying and registering out growers (up to now 200 registered), agreed to work with Siko-Mendo & Oda Roba having 20,000 and 6,500 members respectively, creating awareness, organizing field days and the like. Therefore in coming years we have a plan to work with at least 600 – 1000 out growers and to provide machine leasing at least for 14,000 – 20,000 farmers in Bale Zone.

Key Challenges in seed Production and Distribution The major challenges seed production and distribution are listed as follows  Traditional agricultural practices  Poor knowledge and awareness on chickpea  Poor market  Unavailability of genuine pesticides for bollworm  Traditional nutrition system of the local people i.e. highly depend on cereals and chickpea is not stable food

Key Challenges

Planning for 2015 Balegreen has the following tasks to achieve for the year 2015  Functionalizing contract farming with at least farmers and tries to rich thousands of local farmers by availing certified seed.  Strengthening the linkage b/n potential buyers and BG to make sustainable and reliable market.  Purchasing and applying row planter as well as chick pea customized harvester technology  To supply in puts like inoculants, fertilizer, chemicals and safety clothing to the local farmers.  In 2014/2015 Balegreen expects yield 1,250 qtls of Kabuli and 600 qtls of Ararti

Different Activities & Our future plan

Potential Partnership with ILRI – N2Africa Balegreen is interested to keep up and strength partnership with ILRI – N2Africa because of the following reasons 1. Balegreen had got reasonable advantage on production increment because of inoculants application and nitrogen fixation on farm 2. Now ILRI – N2Africa is becoming a hope for the poor farmers and for also Balegreen in order to enhance soil fertility

Productivity increased because of nitrogen fixation

Different Activities of Balegreen Chickpea Seed Multiplication Farm

Different Activities …

The End Thank you!!!