Climate change risks to the wheat value chain in Ethiopia: Findings, implications and adaptation options

Ethiopia is the top wheat producer in Sub-Saharan Africa, and is the third largest producer in the continent next to Egypt and Morocco (Nigus et al., 2022). Wheat is an important cereal crop having substantial contribution to national economy, agricultural development and food security. It alone accounts for 2.9% of the national GDP, and represents 14.9% of household consumption along with maize (Komarek et al., 2019). The crop is the fourth widely cultivated cereal in the country next to teff, maize and sorghum. It accounts about 15% of area coverage and 18% of the volume of production of whole grain (CSA, 2022). Small-holder farmers who are a little over 4.5 million in number produce about 95% of the grain and only 5% of the total production is accounted by large scale commercial farms (CSA, 2019; USAD, 2019). About 59% of total wheat produced by smallholder farmers is used for own consumption, 14.7% for seed, 23.8% for sale, and the rest for other purposes (CSA, 2021). As a major staple food in the country, wheat is consumed in the form of bread, porridge, roasted grain (kolo), boiled grain (nifro), pasta, macaroni and local drinks. In terms of dietary intake, wheat comes next to maize by providing about 15% of the caloric intake of the population (FAO, 2014), which is slightly ahead of teff, sorghum and enset, each contributing to 10-12 % (Minot et al., 2015). Its straw is commonly used as a roof tacking material and as a feed for animals.