The Contribution of Kaffa Forest Coffee Producer Farmers’ Cooperative Union to the Production of Forest Coffee in South West Ethiopia

Kafa Forest Coffee Producer Farmers’ Cooperative Union participates directly to sell the products in international market as result members are benefited more from the many dimension of impact of the union and it improves the life of coffee farmers and also assures the survival of cooperative in the market. Draw backs or problems seen in Kaffa Forest Coffee Producer Farmers’ Cooperative Union (KFCPFCU) are lack of communication among the union and members, lack of infrastructure, lack of picking and drying machine, selective picking and drying accomplished through traditional method that are not require large machine, wide spread of illegal private coffee trader, lack of transportation facility, non – continues     supply  of strategies function in the union, absence of sustainable motivation, training regarding to the up to date marketing system, low marketing skill and knowledge of members as well as the employee, and also lack of well-trained manpower in the field of cooperatives. Cooperatives performance is measured by performance indicators such as membership participation and membership growth, profit and dividend payment, service provided to members, training and sale and purchase of product. The achievement of a cooperative in enhancing organizational strength is one of the governing factor to ensure cooperative performance although the respondent of the union suggested that the union must interest in continue program, improving infrastructure service integrate and improve coffee production and marketing system of the union. It is good for promoting coffee worldwide and increases the country’s foreign currency earning

Determinants of Coffee Farmers Market Outlet Choice: The Case of Bench Maji Zone, Ethiopia

Access to market in the form of different channels for coffee farmers is crucial for exploiting the potential of coffee production to contribute to increased cash income of rural households. Identifying factors affecting market channel decision is therefore important. This paper reports on the findings of a study to investigate determinant factors that influence these choices among coffee farmers in general and member and nonmember coffee growers in particular in Bench Maji Zone South Western Ethiopia. Using stratified random sampling 132 smallholder coffee farmers were selected across purposively selected 16 coffee cooperatives in Bench Maji Zone of South Western Ethiopia. Farmers sell their produce through different but limited market channels. The study found out that the main marketing channels existing in the area were coffee marketing cooperatives, private traders, neighboring cooperatives, and informal traders. Coffee farmers can choose to sell all, a proportion or nothing of their coffee cooperatives through any of these channels. One would expect that member coffee farmers deliver their coffee to their own cooperatives and nonmember farmers expected to deliver their coffee to private traders. However this is not the case in the study. Rather the study revealed that 42% of member coffee farmers sell their coffee to private traders and in opposite direction a 46% of nonmember coffee growers deliver their coffee to coffee cooperatives. The question why is this happening and what determines their selling decisions of coffee farmers? Tobit regression is made and the regression results for member farmers revealed that factors such as education, proportion of land allocated to coffee, proportion of off farm income to total income, cooperatives performance, satisfaction on cooperatives performance, and second payment affected market outlet choice while age of the household head, proportion of off farm income and access to training has positively influenced nonmember coffee growers’ buyer selection decision. Finally the study confirmed the continued viability of coffee marketing cooperatives as suppliers of coffee to coffee buyers in the study area. The results have important implications for the management and future of cooperatives, as well as for the assessment of their development impacts

Value Added Tax Administration and Its Challenges: The Case of South Gondar Zone, Ethiopia

Tax contributions are important for different public services such as security, health, education, building infrastructures and welfare programs. The growth of global economy has been another factor leading to change in the tax system. As the result tax is the main source of revenue for both developed and developing nations to maximize their economic development as well as national security. Taxes have usually two parts, direct tax and indirect tax, according to the point at which they are actually paid. One of the main parts of indirect tax is VAT. The main objective of this study is to investigate the main Value Added Tax administration challenges of South Gondar Zone. Mainly primary source of data wer used in this study. Two main target groups were identified; taxpayers and tax officers. In the study, 384 tax payers who are registered for VAT and 102 tax officers were interviewed. The awareness level of the tax payers towards VAT was one point of interest and results show that out of the 102 tax officers, most of them reported that the awareness of the tax payers is low. Based on the results of the findings, the main challenges of Value Added Tax administration in South Gondar Zone are: lack of tax payers awareness, selling goods and services without tax invoice or lack of use proper Value Added Tax invoices, weak culture of taxpayers, and lack of fairness, lack of experience of Value Added Tax registrants, weak follow-ups and controlling mechanisms against those unregistered and registered Value Added Tax payers.  To alleviate awareness problem there is a need to have tax education campaign by coordinated efforts that must be exerted at all levels to enhance the awareness of the tax payers and other members of the community. The major task that the office should do is supervising and monitoring of those whether unregistered and registered Value Added Tax taxpayers up to door to door inspection. There is a need to enhance the capacity of the employees of the tax office. Of course, the study shows that both short term and long term trainings are given. But still, there is also a need for changing the attitude towards customer handling and other service giving methodologies. Keywords: Vat, administration, challenges DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-7-01 Publication date:March 31st 202

The Role of Micro and Small Business Enterprises in Linking Youth and Women in to Business: A Case Study in South Gondar Zone, Ethiopia

Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) occupy a prominent position in the development agenda of many developing countries like Ethiopia. MSEs are long recognized as important vehicles of economic diversification, employment creation, income generation and distribution, and poverty alleviation. Especially they brought marginalized groups (women and youth) in to development portfolio. The number of MSEs in Ethiopia is steadily growing but much more important than their number is their current status, stage and pace of development. Thus, the study aimed at assessing the role of MSEs inin linking youth and women in to business: which was addressed through examining the perception and participation of youth and women in the business. And the investigations also focused on assessment of the current trends, challenges and prospects of the sector and finally provide recommendations for policy implications of the businesses. To meet the objectives of the study, primary data were collected using questionnaire and focus group discussion with 384 respondents that were selected randomly from each stratum (woreda) enterprises of South Gondar Zone, Ethiopia. The study has covered almost all types of sectors that are identified by the zonal office. Following collection of necessary data, it were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods such as percentages, means, frequencies, ranges, standard deviations, Pearson’s correlation and binary logistic regression model. The descriptive parts were also tested using Chi square and t-tests to check whether there is a significant relation between outcome and explanatory variables. Keywords: Micro and Small Business Enterprises, Women, Youth. DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/10-23-05 Publication date: December 31st 201

Inter- and Intraspecific Diversity of Food Legumes Among Households and Communities in Ethiopia

Smallholders throughout sub-Saharan Africa produce legume crops as sources of food, fodder, and cash income, as well as to improve soil fertility. Ethiopian farmers have developed diverse legume varieties that enable adaptation to changing agroecological and sociocultural conditions. However, over the past several decades, as farm sizes declined and extension services promoted new varieties developed by plant breeders, changes in legume diversity have not been monitored. Based on interviews with smallholder farmers (n = 1296), we investigated the status of inter- and intraspecific legume diversity in major production areas of Ethiopia for five food legumes: common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), field pea (Pisum sativum L.), faba bean (Vicia faba L.), groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) and fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.). Legume species richness increased with altitude, relative household wealth, and land area planted to legumes. The highest numbers of varieties were found for common bean, followed by field pea, faba bean, groundnut and fenugreek. The average number of varieties planted per household was low (ranging from 1 to 2) and often much lower than the number reported in the same community or zone, which ranged from 2 to 18. For three out of the five species, the number of varieties significantly increased with total land area planted to legumes. Most varieties were rare, planted by less than 1/3 of farmers; however, informants accurately named varieties planted by others in the same community, demonstrating awareness of legume diversity at the community level. Given that the ability to plant multiple legume varieties is limited by land size, policies need to strengthen community-level conservation based on the diverse interests and needs of individual households. There are five additional files which give supporting data for this article

Food insecurity experience during climate shock periods and farmers’ aspiration in Ethiopia

Research on climate change impact focuses on biophysical and economic dimensions. This paper seeks to unveil the association between smallholder farmers' food insecurity experience (FIE) during climate shock periods and their subsequent aspiration level. To this end, our analysis relied on data collected in rural Ethiopia following an unprecedented climate shock the country faced in 2016. We measured food insecurity (FI) using the food insecurity experience scale module (FIES-M) while households' aspirations were captured using an aggregated index measured in four dimensions: asset, income, children's education, and social status. We use both descriptive analysis and multinomial models to portray the association between FIE and aspiration. The majority of the respondents (67%) faced FI in varied severity: mild, moderate, and severe. The self-reported food gap months during the shock period ranges between 0 and 9 months. Among individuals reporting a food gap, around 80% faced three or more months. The average farmer had an aspiration level of 0.0042. Aspiration was associated with the socioeconomic realities of individuals. Educated, males, households with higher dependency ratio, income, and livestock had higher aspiration levels. Aspiration also varied with the severity of food insecurity individuals experienced. Farmers who experienced severe FI during the shock period had lower aspiration levels. A one-month food gap was associated with a decrease in 0.023 standard deviations in aspiration. The association between FI and aspiration level remains true even after controlling for the socioeconomic covariates of aspiration. There is gender disparity in the severity of FIE and aspiration of households during the shock period. However, this was not true when male headed and female headed households are equal in education, income, and asset holdings. In summary, in addition to the resource-related impact, climate shocks may influence the future oriented behavior of farmers. Further research based on longitudinal data is necessary to capture the dynamic nature of aspiration formation and reformation in relation to FIE during climate shock periods

Smallholder commercialization and climate change: a simulation game for teff in South Wollo, Ethiopia

Replicable Business Models (RBMs) focus on reducing economic coordination, opportunism, and price risks but pay less attention to risks from natural shocks. A simulation game was designed to capture the impact of variable rainfall on teff production and commercialization in South Wollo Zone, Amhara region, Ethiopia. The game captured farmers’ decision-making for three rainfall scenarios and three levels of market prices. The results showed that variable rainfall had little impact on the levels of teff production or commercialization. The exception was the scenario where rainfall failed in both crop seasons; however, the probability of this scenario was low. If rains failed in the first wet season (Belg) or if rains in the second and main wet season (Meher) were late, farmers maintained teff production by increasing the area planted and the share of teff that received inorganic fertilizer. Resource constraints – particularly shortage of land – limited farmers’ production of teff. Despite these constraints, the simulation revealed that farmers will increase teff sales in response to higher prices. The risk simulation game provides a diagnostic tool to evaluate the performance of the RBM and the potential for smallholder commercialization in the face of natural shocks

Exposure to DDT and HCH congeners and associated potential health risks through khat (Catha edulis) consumption among adults in South Wollo, Ethiopia

Khat (Catha edulis) chewing is widespread in the region of East Africa. Even low levels of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in khat could induce public health concern. In a market-based study, from five popular khat varieties, a total of 35 composite khat samples were analyzed for dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and its main transformation products, and four hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) isomers. Extraction was carried out by quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe method (QuEChERS). OCP concentrations were determined by head space solid phase microextraction coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME–GC–MS). Every sample contained β-HCH above the maximum residue limit set by the European Commission. For total DDT, this was the case for 25.7% of the samples. The ratios of (p,p′-DDD + p,p′-DDE) to p,p′-DDT were less than one for 85% of khat samples, demonstrating recent use of DDT in khat farmlands. Conversely, the ratio of β-HCH to total HCH varied from 0.56 to 0.96, implying historical input of technical HCH. Assuming a daily chewable portion of 100 g, dietary intakes of p,p′-DDT, total DDT and total HCH by adults ranged from 3.12 to 57.9, 6.49 to 80.2 and 39.2 to 51.9 ng (kg body weight)−1 day−1, respectively. These levels are below acceptable levels suggested by international organizations. Chewing khat showed lower non-cancer health risk, but showed relatively higher cancer risk in terms of OCPs. Because khat is chewed without being subjected to any treatment, uncertainties associated with estimated intakes and health risks should be low. Therefore, this practice is of great concern