Abstract:
Potato is the most important root crop in Jeldu district, which is used for home consumption and
market. However, lower production and productivity, and lower rate of potato production of
improved potato varieties were the major problems constraining the potential benefit that can be
obtained from the sector in the study area. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to identify
factors that affect potato production in the study area in Jeldu district. The study used both
primary and secondary data to achieve the objectives. The primary data were obtained from 164
sample households and a two-stage-sampling technique was used. Descriptive statistics and
inferential analysis model were employed for analyzing the data. The findings of the study
indicated that factor affect potato productions were positively and significantly influenced by
institutional factor, technological factor, technical factor and topographical factors. However,
distance to thenearest market had negative and significant effect on the potato production. The
Truncated regression result revealed that perception toward attributes of improved potato
varieties yield, family size, livestock ownership and membership to cooperatives positively and
significantly affected the proportion of land allocated for improved potato varieties. Based on the
findings, it is recommended that policy makers and technical institutions should target these
factors to facilitate potato production that will improve agricultural productivity and hence
reduce the food insecurity problem in the study area.
