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Production of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), which is one of the major crops in the dryland parts of Northern Ethiopia, is challenged by erratic rainfall patterns often characterized by total failure of the short rain season of April or delay in the onset and early cessation of the rainfall during the main rain seasons (June to September). Raising sorghum in nurseries using small amounts of water and transplanting seedlings could be a way of extending the growing season in the short duration rainfall areas of Northern Ethiopia. Seedlings may either be hand watered with minimal amounts of water until the rains become fully established or may be grown on residual moisture already collected previously in micro-dams or similar water conservation structures. This practice could boost yield considerably and thus provide an extra dimension to food security. It is believed that in addition to providing food security, it is critical to provide people with a basket of choices of techniques to enable them to minimize the risk of loosing their harvest. A few years ago, sorghum was growing well in the study areas, but in recent years due to different climatic changes and a short rainy season the production of sorghum is decreasing year after year.

The study was conducted in four major sorghum growing areas of Tigray and Afar regional states. This report presents a synthesis of the key findings and recommendations of the studies carried out at two levels: on-station trials and on-farm trials launched in 2003 and carried out until 2005.  

The studies revealed that transplanted sorghum (varying from 20-50 days old seedlings) flowers and matures from 10-25 and 50-65 days earlier than the sorghum direct sown at transplanting time and the April direct-sown sorghum (farmers’ practice). Regardless of variety differences, transplanting seedlings of 30-45 days old and with nursery spacing of 7cm were found to be effective to flower early and boost yield considerably by escaping the early cessation of rainfall. The results showed that transplanted sorghum out-yielded significantly the direct sown sorghum by 10-18 qt ha of grain yield, and improved the biomass yield by 1.2-3.5 folds. However, the April direct sown sorghum was found to produce the highest grain and biomass yield as compared to both the transplanted and direct sown sorghum at the time of transplanting. These results suggest therefore that the technique of transplanting can be more feasible in areas where the sorghum is planted during the main rain season and in areas that failed to grow sorghum in April due to insufficient short rains in April.   

Generally, sorghum transplanting is a feasible technology option to reduce risks associated with the direct sowing of sorghum and improve the food security status of the farming community in the semi-arid regions.