Agro-Economic Evaluation of Alternative Crop Management Options for Teff Production in Midland Agro-Ecology, Ethiopia

Teff is an important crop for smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. Improved management practices are needed to increase teff productivity and decrease production costs. Here, we used a split–split plot design evaluate the impacts of different tillage, sowing, soil compaction practices, their combinations, on agronomic performance, weed population, lodging, cost at Aba Gerima watershed northwestern Ethiopia 2018–2020. Reduced tillage (RT) improved moisture, resulting increased performance decreased costs compared with conventional (CT); however, population was substantially larger RT than CT. Row planting (RP) reduced seed lodging but sowing weeding broadcast (BP). Plant leaf area index were greater BP RP during early-stage growth, this reversed late-stage growth. Despite labor being significantly (WC) without (NC), little no differences observed or performance. Partial cost–benefit analysis revealed that RT–RP–WC followed by RT–RP–NC most economical treatment combination, suggesting could be labor-effective means increasing farms