Amhara Regional Agricultural Research Institute Debre Birhan Agricultural Research Center

Debre Birhan Agricultural Research Center is a research station that was managed under Holeta Agricultural Research Center in the former Sheno Agricultural Research Station since 1965 E.C. It was established as an agricultural research sub-center in the Sheno area in 1978 E.C and gradually grew to become Sheno Agricultural Research Center in 1988 E.C. It was 140 hectares. This holding is not enough and it is not convenient/suitable/ for animal and crop research, because it is plain with low soil fertility and waterlogging, and also it is not located in the centralized location of the North Showa Zone administration of Amhara National Regional Government, it costs a lot of money, so in 1997 E.C, it was transferred to the area of ​​Debre Berhan city, where 260.5 hectares of land was owned, and it was named/known/ as the Deber Berhan Agricultural Research Center and which was managed under the Amhara National Regional Government Agricultural Research Institute. At present, it is part of the Rigio Politan City Administration of Debre Birhan. As of July 2024, DBARC has a total number of 239 employees of which 97 are Researchers, 1 Technical assistant, 141 Supportive staff.  Female staff constitute 28.03% of the total.  

The center is Located in the North Shewa Zone of the Amhara Region, about 120 kilometers northeast of Addis Ababa & 10 km far away from Debre Birhan city on the paved highway to Dessie. The geographical extent of DBARC ranges from 090 36′ 45″ to 090  35′  45″ north latitude and from 390  29′  40 ″to 39 0 31′ 30″  east longitude and an elevation of 2,828 meters. Debre Birhan Agricultural  Research Center is in charge of undertaking scientific research on major agricultural production constraints in the Northern part of the Amhara Region (North Shewa Zone). Generally, DBARC has been conducting research with an emphasis on the different agroecological areas of the North Showa Zone.  The Zone has a big potential for agricultural development with diverse natural resources and huge livestock and crop genotypes.

Debre Birhan Agricultural Research Center is the coordinator of various research commodities at the regional & national level. At the regional level, DBARC is the coordinator of cereal research (food & malt barley); pulse research(lentils, faba bean, field pea); highland fruits and vegetables (garlic, cabbage, carrot); livestock research(sheep research, animal feed & nutrition); soil &water research(black soil management & cultivation); forestry research(man-made/artificial/forest); Socioeconomics (Market research and value chain); and at the national level, it is the coordinator of the sheep research project. In general, the center's research focus is on continuously generating and adapting problem-solving agricultural technologies, as well as technology promotion, technology multiplication and technology scaling-up activities, and it is conducted on all agro-ecologies. The main targets of the center are continuous generation and adaptation of agricultural technologies suitable for different ecosystems; promotion of selected & improved agricultural technologies to the user community through establishing FREG, PED &LSD; conducting surveys on the adoption & impacts of improved agricultural technologies for the selected value chain commodities; multiply & supply quality sources seeds for stakeholders. DBARC has been conducting research with more emphasis on the highlands of North Shewa. Currently, the center has extended its research areas to include the North Shewa's lowlands. To address the farming systems, DBARC is conducting research using one main research center at Debre Birhan one sub-center at Alem Ketema, and nine trial sites at different agroecologies. In general, the center has about 9 stations/ trial sites/ and one sub-center at which different research activities are being implemented. The following table shows the description of the main center, trial sites, and sub center.