Reconsidering the economic and nutritional importance of faba bean in Ethiopian context

• Main Authors: Bulti Merga, Meseret Chimdessa Egigu, Mulatu Wakgari
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2019-01-01
• Series: Cogent Food & Agriculture
• Subjects: adaptation; status; pulses
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23311932.2019.1683938

Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is not only an important cash crop but also is considered as a promising crop, which adapts to climate change hence feed future generations. Its high protein content and efficient atmospheric nitrogen-fixing ability makes faba bean a vital crop. This study, thus, focused on assessing the importance of faba bean in Ethiopia, specifically at reviewing the status, trend, economic and nutritional values, consumption patterns, environmental importance, and its potential role in the face of climate change. The study was conducted through a critical review of secondary data and published research and analytical reports and presented the findings and implications in Ethiopian context. The analysis revealed that about 4,840,090 tons of faba bean was produced globally on 2,463,966 hectares of land. China (1,803,019 tons), Ethiopia (930,633 tons), Australia (373,605 tons), United Kingdom (302,468 tons) and Germany (188,800 tons) are the top five faba bean producers in 2017. Moreover, the mean yield of faba bean is 1,964.3 kg ha−1 globally. In Ethiopia, there was an average of 41,473.4 tons faba bean export from 2012 to 2016 and an average of 1,995.52 kg ha−1 productivity potential from 2013 to 2017. The economic and nutritional values of faba bean can be promoted through the joint initiative between farmers union to train them, and the government should establish integrated crop markets that provide incentives to the farmers to sell their produce by using the “linking farmers to markets” approach.