Pre-extension demonstration of sorghum varieties was carried out in Lalo Asabi, Seyo and Anfilo districts of Kellam and West Wollega zones during 2018/19 cropping season with the objective of evaluating best performing and preferred sorghum varieties under farmer’s management condition. Three varieties of sorghum (Chemada, Gemadi and Lalo) were evaluated with full participation of FRG member farmers under their management condition. Different Participatory technology evaluation were employed to enable farmers select variety/varieties which suit their condition. The result obtained indicate that the yield of Lalo variety was significantly higher (P<0.05) compared Chemada and Gemadi varieties with magnitude of 3.54ton ha-1 followed by Gemadi and Chemada with magnitude of 2.995 and 2.688ton ha-1 respectively. Additionally, lodging percentage of Lalo variety was significantly higher with magnitude of 5.74% followed by Gemadi and Chemada with magnitude of 2.29% and 2.06 respectively. At maturity stage the varieties were evaluated jointly by farmers, agricultural experts, development agents and researchers. Seed color, marketability, home consumption, yield, thresh ability, seed size, stock, lodging, disease resistance was selection criteria used by farmers. The direct matrix ranking of variety by farmers gave the superiority of Gemadi variety as their first choice due its seed color, thresh ability, marketability, seed size, home consumption followed by Chemada variety. Based on farmer’s preference, Gemadi and Chemada varieties were selected to be popularized on large scale on farmer’s fields.
Keywords: Participatory Evaluation, Sorghum, chemada, farmers’ feedback, gemadi.
