On-farm Demonstration and Participatory Evaluation of Improved Desert Type Banana Varieties in Selected Districts of Silte Zone, Ethiopia

The per-extension demonstration was conducted for three successive years at Silte Zone. Hulbareg, Sankura and Silte were selected purposively based on potential of banana production and availability of irrigation with respective district Agricultural Office. Banana were produced on farmers' fields in the Silte Zone using both irrigation and rain feeding techniques as a means of producing revenue and supplying food. A total of six improved banana varieties namely Giant Cavendish, Dwarf, William I, poyo and Robust were demonstrated with local variety. Farmer’s feedback results revealed that fruit size of Giant Cavendish variety was larger than William I and other varieties. Farmers were preferred Giant Cavendish due to its big fruits, early maturity, market preference, medium in height and sweetness than others. Giant Cavendish and William I varieties were disease resistant as compared to Robusta, poyo and local check variety. Demonstration of dessert type banana was conducted in Silte zone of Hulbareg, Silte and Sankura districts mainly intended to evaluate improved varieties of banana and then create linkage & awareness on the banana technologies. The result of the study revealed that Williams and Poyo varieties have showed advantage over others varieties in terms of their number of hands per bunch and number of fruits per bunch as compared to local check.