Crop production in Ethiopia still relies on traditional knowledge and practices and 85 percent of the population earn their living from traditional farming.
Crops in the country are vulnerable to drought and pest and fungal invasions, which subsequently lead to losses and higher food prices.
Modernizing the sector is not an option, but rather an obligation. The government has readied itself to transform the sector and many agricultural colleges and research centers have been established.
Research institutions are trying to hybridize plant and animal specious and newly reproduced highly productive crops have been disseminated to the farmers.
Over 15 years have elapsed since plant biotechnology was started in EIAR. It is one of the three national biotechnology case teams which focuses on plant, animal and micro-organisms.
The main objective of the programme is to exploit biotechnological tools to adopt and generate technologies which improve production and productivity of crops. In addition to this, it focuses on development and optimization, genetic resource conservation, diversity analysis, diseases control, quality trait search. Hence it as well enhances crop breeding and improvement in the country.
