Abstract:
Ginger bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum is a notable impediment of
production of ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) in ginger growing area. It a common
disease that affects the ginger crop through all phases of its production cycle. Hence, the
study was aimed to assess the Socio-economic impact of ginger bacterial wilt on farmers’
livelihood in KambataTembaro Zone, Kachbira woreda. Among 21 kebeles in the
woreda, three kebeles were purposively selected based on ginger production capacity. A
total of 102 households from the aforementioned kebeles were randomly selected to
assess the socio-economic impact of the disease on the livelihood of the farmers. Two
common varieties of ginger namely Volvo (introduced) and Hargama (local) were
selected for further field experiment. The socio-economic data showed that 87.3 % of the
farmers found to face food insecurity and 100% of the farmers feared that their household
income is affected. Only 1% of the farmers found to use modern management practices to
control the impact of the disease and the rest use either traditional or integrated
approaches. The field experiment result also revealed that the prevalence of bacterial wilt
in both Hargama and Volvo control group were 25 and 19.44% respectively. And from
externally infected experimental group of Hargema and Volvo 69.4 and 63.9% of ginger
plant affected by the disease respectively. This further confirmed that ginger bacterial
wilt affects both varieties and has significant effect on yield. The yield of ginger at the
end of the experiment measured and found to be 0.91 (X
2
=0.38) and 0.75 (X
2
=3.42) for
Volvo and Hargama respectively.In conclusion the disease affect the plant, ginger
growing farmers, and agricultural sector significantly in the study area.
