1. General Background

Aksum Agricultural Research Center (AxARC), was established in 1995 E.C. (2002 G.C.), under the Tigray Agricultural Research Institute (TARI). The center is located in Axum town and has four testing sites in central zone of Tigray at Rama-Adi arbaete, Laelay Maichew, Adwa and Adet districts. The mandate areas of the center includes more than 17 districts and 3 town administrations of central zone of Tigray and are accessible to transport service in all seasons. The agro ecologies of the mandate areas consists of all the three major agro-ecological classifications (lowland, midland and highland) extending from the lowland areas of Rama Adi-arbaete to the highlands of Ahferom.

The center is organized in to four research core processes and one support staff team. The research core processes are crop and horticulture research, Livestock research, Natural resources management research and agricultural extension and socio-economic research. The center is conducting a lot of agro ecologically fitted and problem solving Agricultural research activities mainly focusing on Agricultural technology generation, Technology adaptation, Technology dissemination through demonstration and pre-extension popularization activities. Regionally, AxARC is center of excellence and collaboration center on Teff (eragorists teff) research, pulse research, horticulture research and Poultry research programs.    

2. Research capacity

1.  Human capacity: The total man power of the center is 35 researchers (4 PhD candidates, 24 MScs, 1 DVM, 3 MSc and 1BSc candidates), 17 support staff and 10 contract workers.
2. Physical capacity:

The center has four permanent research sites at Rama Adi Arbate, Adwa, Laelay Maichew and Adet and one temporal testing site at Ahferom districts of central zon. It has also one poultry research and multiplication farm at Axum town. The center owns 13 ha of land being used for research, seed multiplication and fruit orchard activities. In addition, there is about 0.25 ha of land for poultry research, multiplication, feed processing and hatchery activities. As far as research facilities/logistics is concerned, the center has four vehicles (3 cars and 1 motorcycle) and owns a non-permanent office.

3. Research disciplines/core-process

3.1. Crop Research Core process

In the crop research core process, there are four research case teams; research team on cereals, research team on pulses, research team on horticulture, and research team on plant protection research team. This core process is mainly focused on development of high yielding and disease-resistant varieties for the major food crops, such as Teff, wheat, finger millet, and chickpea. In addition, it is mandated to conduct research on horticultural crops and has been working on adaptation of high-yielding vegetable crops (onion, tomato, garlic, and hot paper) and fruits (papaya, orange, and mango). The protection research team has been working to identify and diagnose the major pests and diseases of major field crops, vegetables and fruits in the mandate areas.  In addition, carry out studies centered on integrated pest management (IPM). 

3.2. Livestock Research Core Process

The livestock research core process has organized in to two research case teams, thus include the poultry research case team and Cattle (Dairy) research case team. This core process has been instrumental in enhancing poultry productivity by introducing, demonstrating, and multiplying improved breeds of poultry known as koekoeck that best suit to the production system of smallholder farmers in the areas in general and women farmers in particular. The poultry farm is equipped with full farm infrastructure of hatcheries, feed mill and mixer machineries, brooder house, grower and layer rooms, and experimental pens. Currently, it is operating by handling more than 1000 koekoeck chickens for both research and multiplication purposes. In addition, tremendous research efforts have been made in the area of livestock feed improvement and improved forage establishment in the central zone. So far, top 15 forage germplasms are maintained and multiplied for further research and demonstration projects. A survey on major animal diseases had also been carried out and documented by the livestock research core process.

3.3. Natural Resources Management Research Core Process 

The natural resources management research core process has three research case teams under it. These include forestry and agroforestry research, soil and water conservation research, and irrigation and drainage systems research. So far, the core process has conducted different research and demonstration activities on lowland bamboo, economically significant trees, physical and biological soil and water conservation practices, and irrigation water management research activities, including crop water requirement research, irrigation interval research, and optimal irrigation supplementation.

3.4. Socio-Economic and Agricultural Extension Research Core Process  

The socio-economic and agricultural extension research core process has two research case teams; Socioeconomics, and Extension and Gender research case teams. The Socio-economics core process is mainly focused on the generation of information and knowledge that enhance internal and external research efficiency. It also studies the impacts of agricultural technologies, policies, institutions on the overall livelihood of the farming communities, farming systems and the environment at large. Regarding the agricultural extension research, it mainly focused on the demonstration and pre-extension popularization of new agricultural technologies through participatory on farm research. It promotes farmers to actively involve at all stages of technology development with special emphasis on gender sensitive/responsive agricultural technologies that ensure the benefit of women and youth who are the most disadvantaged groups of the community as far as use of improved technologies is concerned. It also promote technologies using different media options.    

4. Major Research achievements  

The center has carried out different research programs and activities on crop, livestock, natural resource management and socio-economic and research extension research core processes. 

4.1. Achievements in Crop research

• Varieties development/released in cereals:
  • In cllaboration with Debre Zeyit Agricultural Research Center, 3 varieties of teff namely Kuncho, Kora, Boset and Dagm have been introduced and promoted  
  • 2 teff varieties Axumawit (fr moist) and Maitoum (for moisture stressed areas) have been nationally released
  • 2 early maturing finger millet varieties called Axumay and Mereb-ne have been nationally released.
  • 1 wheat variety golcho successfully adapted and demonstrated for midlands areas of central zone of Tigray.
• Varieties development/released in pulses:
  • 3 imprved varieties of chick pea (Dalota, Arerti and Dimtu) have been adapted and promoted to farmers in central and north western zones of Tigray.
  • 1 chickpea variety called Hatseb recently released at national level.
  • 1 faba bean varity called Hachalu adapted and prmoted. 
• Varieties development/released in horticulture:
  • Fruits: 1 Orange variety (grafted gunda gund), 1 papaya variety (maradol) introduced and demonstrated
  • 1 nion variety (bombay red), 2 tomato varieties (Melka shola and Roma Vf) and 1 hot paper variety (Marko-fana) have been adapted and well demonstrated along with their full packages
  • Onin seed multiplication technique has been widely demonstrated.  
• Plant protection: Major crop diseases and pests have been identified. 

4.2. Achievements in Livestock Research

• Breed improved:
  • 1 best pultry breed called koekoek evaluated and promoted all across the region
  • 1 dairy cw breed improvement technique (Estrus synchronization) evaluated
  • Small ruminants estrus synchrnization using prostaglandin 2G-alfa and estromate hormone especially on sheep evaluated.     
• Livestock feed improvement:
  • Effective microrganisms treatment of crop residues, improved feed trough, improved forage legumes and grasses introduced and promoted
  • 1 indigenus forage grass called Hyperrenina ruffa /sari gebremariam/ grass natinally released and demonstrated at the closure areas
  • Vast frage germplasm maintained, multiplied and scaled out in irrigation schemes. 

4.3. Achievements in Natural resources Research

• Forestry and agroforestry research:
  • Evaluatin and demonstration of lowland and highland bamboo and on station establishment and multiplication of the planting material.
  • Apprpriate propagation method of the lowland bamboo identified
  • Ecnomically important trees like moringa were evaluated and demonstrated.
• Soil and water conservation:
  • Best practices f biological gully treatment identified generated.
  • Different misture conservation practices identified that enhanced yields of sorghum and finger millet. 
• Irrigation:
  • Crop water requirements and irrigation scheduling for major vegetables determined,
  • Improved irrigation water management and soil nutrient application technologies (alternative furrow irrigation, drip irrigation and irrigation water scheduling using soil moisture wet front detector) evaluated and demonstrated

4.4. Socioeconomics and Extension Research achievements

• Studies:
  • Farmers’ perceptin, adoption, technology impact and cost benefits analysis of different technology packages on cereals and irrigation technologies.  
• Large-scale promotion of different teff varieties (kuncho, Boset and kora) to more than 1578 farmers and 430 ha of land at central zone of Tigray.    
• Pre-extension demonstration and Large-scale promotion of finger millet (Mereb-1) variety to 349 farmers and about 59ha land.     
• Pre-extension demonstration and large-scale promotion of horticultural crops along with their technology packages (onion, tomato, potato, lettuce, apple mango and orange) to more than 721 farmers.  
• Pre-extension demonstration of improved feed and feeding technologies (legumes and grasses varieties, feed trough and feed treatment using effective micro-organisms)) to more than 496 farmers
• Pre-extension demonstration of improved poultry breeds (Koekoek chickens) and husbandry practices to more than 800 farmers and more than 15000 Koekoek chickens distributed.    

5. Partnership and collaboration  ORTDP, AGP, ACGG, ILRI Lives,

The Axum Agricultural Research Center has established strong partnerships and collaborations with a wide range of organizations including; Debrezeit Agricultural Research Center (DZARC) we are working in collaboration on teff, chick pea and poultry research, with world bank funded program called food system resilience project (FSRP), with the international fund for Agricultural  development (IFAD), each District Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development (BoARD) in central zone, International committee of red cross (ICRC), Mibale Seed Enterprise union Aksum, Aksum University and all Agricultural Research Centers under TARI. Furthermore, the center maintained close ties with initiatives like as AGP, ORTDP, and ILRI (African Chicken Genetic Gain-ACGG and Lives).

6. Awards and Recognition

The Aksum Agricultural Research Center and its Researchers have been honored with numerous awards and recognition for their outstanding contributions to the field of agricultural development from:

• 2017 National Award from the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources for the noteworthy contribution to raising agricultural productivity and production.   
• 2016 regional award from the Tigray Bureau of Planning and Finance for the outstanding contribution in the second Growth and Transformation Plan.
• 2023 Acknowledgment and recognition from Fre-Tsibah Improved Seed Multiplication P.L.C., for the provision and delivery of improved seed crops

Contact address: Aksum Agricultural Research Center (AxARC)

Phone: +251347752274

Fax: +251347752110

P.O.Box:230, Axum, Tigray, Ethiopia

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