Abstract The aim of this study was to demonstrate and evaluate the profitability of the malt barley technology under lime conditions through a cluster approach. A multistage sampling procedure was used to select the participant districts and smallholder farmers. About 391 participant farmers were selected with the close collaboration of the zone and district level experts. A simple descriptive statistics and financial profitability analysis were deployed. The study result revealed that producing malt barley under lime conditions has a yield advantage over the farmer’s practices. From 2021 to 2023 cropping years, the marginal rate of return indicated that one birr investment on inputs for large-scale demonstration of malt barley under the clusters provided gross benefits of 7.77, 6.20, and 3.54 birr, respectively. Additionally, the result of the breakeven analysis of the study shows producing malt barley under lime conditions is profitable even if the farmers incur additional costs for cluster farming and lime over the three cropping years. Therefore, the concerned local governments and non-governmental organizations should pay due attention to the supply and distribution of lime to boost the production and productivity of malt barley technology and to bridge the demand gap of the malting industries.

Keywords: Malt barley, cluster farming, limed condition, profitability, Sinan, Machakel