Productivity and yield gap analysis of bread wheat under frontline demonstration in Wag-Lasta district, Ethiopia

Wheat productivity in Wag-Lasta district remains far below the national averages of 3.1 t ha − 1 due to reliance on low-yielding landraces and suboptimal agronomy. Frontline demonstration approach is an effective tool for technology transfer for better technology adoption, helping to narrow both the yield and technology gaps. It also contributes to achieving Sustainable Development Goals such as ending hunger, ensuring food security, and climate action. This experiment was conducted during the 2022/23 cropping season to evaluate the improved variety against the local variety and to assess the farmers’ and extension workers’ perceptions in the Wag-lasta area. The trial was conducted on 12 sites after the participants had been organized into a farmers’ research and extension group. The agronomic, economic, and perception data were collected periodically and analyzed using appropriate tools. The average grain yields of improved and local bread wheat varieties were 2.4 t ha − 1 and 1.7 t ha − 1 , respectively. The improved variety had a yield advantage of 39.8% over the local variety under similar management practices. The improved bread wheat variety provided a net benefit of 83,636 ETB ha − 1 with a 44-fold marginal rate of return. The observed technology gap in grain yield was 1.6 t ha − 1 , and the lower technology index of 19.3% depicts the feasibility of an improved bread wheat variety with its full package under the farmers’ context. Farmers appreciated the high-yielding potential and early maturing nature of the improved bread wheat, hence showing a greater potential for adoption and demand for future use. Therefore, promotion and scaling up of an improved bread wheat variety named ‘Hibist’ along with its production package to farmers was recommended to exploit its viability for adoption and production in the mandate area.