Change and growth rate analysis in area, yield and production of wheat in Ethiopia

The study measured the change and growth rate in area, production, and yield of wheat in Ethiopia based on secondary data during 1991/92-2012/13. Pared t-test was used to identify the significant change in area, production and yield of wheat between the periods 1991/92-2001/02 and 2002/03-2012/13. And semi-log model was applied to measure the compound annual growth rate of wheat for period I (1991/92 to 2001/02), period II (2002/03 to 2012/13) and the whole period (1991/92 to 2012/13). The results revealed that, yield and production of wheat increased satisfactorily from period I to period II. But area was not increased significantly. The compound growth rate in yield of wheat improved rapidly in period-II, whereas the growth rate in area and production decreased slightly. This shows us that increasing production through increasing the area may not be feasible without reducing the area share of other crops. Therefore to meet the growing demand of manufacturing industries, increasing the yield potential would be the solution in the long-run.