Cereal Marketing and Household Market Participation in Ethiopia: The Case of Teff, Wheat and Rice

Teff, wheat and rice are becoming important market oriented crops in Ethiopia. This study aims at analyzing the market participation of farm households, market actors, market channels and determinants of household market participation for these crops. Results are based on analysis of data collected from community and household surveys in three districts in three regional states of the country in 2005. Analysis of descriptive information and econometric analysis are used. About 65 - 77% of households produce these market oriented commodities, on about 27 – 44% of the total cultivated area. About 47 – 60% of the produce of these market oriented commodities is sold. The important market places for producers of these commodities are the district town markets and markets located at the peasant associations. Markets in other district towns or regional markets are not important for producers. Wholesalers and retailers are the most important buyers from producers. Average distance to market places for these commodities is about two walking hours. Econometric analyses showed that access to markets as measured by distance to market places does not have effect on market orientation of households in the study area. We find evidence of an U-shaped relationship between age of household head and market orientation of households in the cereal crops. Availability of cultivated land, traction power and household labor supply are important factors that induces households to be market oriented. The resource poverty of female headed households seems to detract from market orientation. While household size tends to favor food security objectives, number of dependents is associated with market orientation. Our results imply that improvements of markets to benefit producers need to be targeted at the district level. Improving the operations of factor markets of land, traction and farm labor could contribute to enhancing market orientation of farm households. Special attention is needed to female headed households to induce them to be market oriented.Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, International Relations/Trade, Marketing, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Market orientation of smallholders in selected grains in Ethiopia: implications for enhancing commercial transformation of subsistence agriculture

In spite of the policy decision of the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) to commercialize subsistence agriculture, there is a dearth of information on the commercialization process and marketing behaviour of smallholders in Ethiopia. This paper attempts to contribute to redressing this gap of knowledge for the cereal crops of teff, wheat and rice; the pulse crops of haricot beans and chickpea; and an oil crop (niger seed). Data for the study was collected from districts where these crops are important market-oriented commodities. Analysis of the variation in market participation of households in these crops in areas where the crops are already important market-oriented commodities offers a unique opportunity to gain insight into the determinants of the commercialization behaviour of households. About 65–77% of households produce these market-oriented commodities on about 27–44% of the total cultivated area. About 47–60% of the produce of these market-oriented commodities is sold. The important market places for producers of these commodities are the district town markets and markets located at the peasant associations (PA). Markets in other district towns or regional markets are rarely used by producers. Wholesalers and retailers are the most important buyers from producers. Econometric analyses show that market orientation of households is affected by factors related to household demographic characteristics, human and physical capital endowment, distance to markets, institutional support services, and village level factors of population density, agricultural labour wage and rainfall. Our results imply that market interventions to improve the gains to producers need to target district level markets. Special attention is required to female-headed households in the process of commercial transformation of subsistence agriculture. The comparative advantage of female-headed households may not be in grain production. Population control measures may contribute to commercial transformation of subsistence agriculture through their effect of reducing household subsistence requirements. Improving the operations of factor markets of land, traction and farm labour could contribute to enhancing market orientation of farm households. Alternatively, institutional arrangements to improve household access to land and traction power could contribute to market orientation of households. Market access remains an important factor for market orientation of households, implying the need for interventions to develop market infrastructure. The extension and credit services that were designed to achieve food security objectives need to be re-examined to adopt them to the policy of commercial transformation of subsistence agriculture Ethiopia is following. In particular, the institutionalization and development of marketing extension services warrants emphasis

Livestock input supply and service provision in Ethiopia: challenges and opportunities for market-oriented development

Livestock production in Ethiopia has, for long, remained subsistence with limited market-orientation and poor institutional support. Producing for the market requires re-orientation of the production system and development of a knowledge based and responsive institutional support services. Institutional support services of extension, research, input supply, rural finance and marketing are key areas of intervention that can play a central role in the transformation of subsistence production into market orientation. Livestock production systems in Ethiopia can be broadly categorized into mixed crop–livestock system, pastoral and agropastoral system, and urban and peri-urban production systems. The demand for institutional support services for livestock development in these production systems can vary significantly. The way extension system is oriented in Ethiopia may not be in the best interest of livestock keepers and lacks the responsive capacity to the demands for livestock services. In fact, most often livestock development issues are left to development projects and NGOs that have limited scope, coverage and duration. The major inputs for livestock development include animal genetic resources, feeds and forages, veterinary drugs, vaccines, machinery equipment and utensils as well as knowledge. Most of these inputs have been supplied only by the government or government sponsored projects. Limited credit facilities to support livestock development have been provided by microfinance institutions, food security projects, small-scale micro enterprises and NGOs

Linking graduate research to market-oriented agricultural development: IPMS experience with Ethiopian higher learning institutions

Graduate programs in agriculture and allied disciplines in Ethiopia are expected to make concrete contribution to market-oriented development of smallholder agriculture. This, among others, calls for realignment and engagement of the programs with smallholder farmers and, value chain, R&D and policy actors. No panacea exists, however, as to how to ensure effective linkages, and thereby responsiveness. Lessons from initiatives on the ground in the country and beyond is thus crucial to inform the development of appropriate policy and innovative strategy. With the same purpose, this paper discusses the key challenges facing the graduate programs and IPMS initiative to enhance the relevance of graduate research to challenges in commodity value chain development. The paper draws lessons and identifies strategic options based on the insights from IPMS experience as well as other emerging opportunities to improving the relevance and quality of research and learning in the graduate programs. The paper concludes by explicitly recognizing that improving the quality and relevance of graduate research and learning is a daunting task, requiring a holistic approach, multi-pronged and multi-level strategies, and long term commitment

Smallholder commercialization: processes, determinants and impact

This paper reviews the literature on smallholder commercialization. It explores the conceptual developments in smallholder commercialization, methodological advancements in measuring the degree of agricultural commercialization at household level, and the impacts of commercialization on different socio-conomic groups. The paper also investigates policy recommendations made by different authors aimed at facilitating the smooth process of transforming smallholder agriculture from subsistence system to a fully commercialized farming. Based on the review, the paper throws light on conceptual and methodological gaps in relation to smallholder commercialization, and finally, draws general conclusions and directions for future research

Improving the competitiveness of agricultural input markets in Ethiopia: experiences since 1991

Draft, Not for CitationEthiopia, a country which was a net exporter of grains and legumes about half a century ago, is now confronted with the challenge of keeping food production at pace with its population growth, preventing declining per capita food production, and reducing its dependence on food aid. With severe land degradation and low use of soil fertility inputs, crop yields remain low. Despite demonstrated potential to boost agricultural production, sustaining productivity increase has not been achieved. This paper examines the changing roles of the market agricultural oriented development policies and strategies, for the input service delivery system at the national, regional and district level and its impact on development. This paper uses information collected through participatory rapid appraisal, community and household surveys to investigate the functioning of the input market at woreda (district) levels, and identify innovations in the input market. We find that liberalization reforms of input markets have not succeeded in improving the competitiveness of the input market and alleviating shortage of input supply, and the involvement of the private sector remains limited. Generally, the input supply situation is characterized by demand outstripping supply, especially for improved seeds. Several innovation in input supply at the woreda level have been id3entified. These include primary cooperatives and union taking responsibility of crop input supply away from the woreda Office of Agriculture and Rural development; fertilizer importation and distribution by farmer cooperatives and their union; farmer to farmer supply of seeds, seedlings and planting materials; sub-contracting the manufacture of farm equipment to small-scale private manufacturers; and the emergence of private service providers. It is recommended that the negative consequence of the involvement of the public sector in input supply on the emergence and development of the private sector deserves serious attention

Input supply system and services for market-oriented livestock production in Ethiopia

Livestock production in Ethiopia has, for long, remained subsistence with limited market-orientation and poor institutional support. Farmers and pastoralists produce and keep animals for various valid reasons, with little market-orientation. However, producing for the market requires re-orientation of the production system and development of a knowledge based and responsive institutional support services. Institutional support services of extension, research, input supply, rural finance and marketing are key areas of intervention that can play a central role in the transformation of subsistence mode of production in. to market orientation. Livestock production systems in Ethiopia can be broadly categorized into crop-livestock mixed systems, pastoral and agro-pastoral system, urban and peri-urban production systems. The demand for institutional support services for livestock development in these production systems vary significantly. The way extension system is structured in Ethiopia may not be in the best interest of farmers and pastoralists and lacks the responsive capacity to the demands for livestock services. In fact, most often livestock development issues are left to development projects and NGOs that have limited scope, coverage and duration. The major inputs for livestock development include animal genetic resources, feeds and forages, veterinary drugs, vaccines, machinery equipment and utensils as well as knowledge. The experience so far has been the supply of improved (exotic?) animal genetic resources for dairy development, sheep production (meat and wool), improved poultry (broiler and egg production), supply of bee colonies, provision of forage seeds and planting material, dairy goats, provision of processing equipment and utensil (dairy, apiculture), drug supply and vaccination services. Most of these activities have been mainly supplied, by the government or government sponsored projects. Limited credit facilities to support livestock asset accumulation and development have been provided by microfinance institutions, food security projects, small-scale micro enterprises and NGOs. The contribution of the private sector in livestock input has been limited to supplies of veterinary drugs and services, roughage and concentrate feeds, and processing equipment and utensils. Recent trends show that there is an encouraging move to involve the private sector in input supplies such as production of beehives. Due to the recent increase demand for live animals and animal products in the domestic and export markets, there has been a renewed interest to promote market-oriented livestock production. As a result, a lot of interventions are happening to engage farmers and pastoralists in a more market-oriented livestock production in areas where the resources offer the opportunities. For example, a lot of activities are happening in apiculture production, small ruminants breeding and fattening, cattle fattening, poultry production and dairy production. Institutions such as microfinance, small-scale and micro enterprises, NGOs, women affairs office are involved in these activities with limited engagement of the Office of Agriculture and Rural Development at Woreda levels. The demand for input supply, particularly for improved animal genetic resources has increased substantially with poor response of the supply side. There is a gap in coordination of efforts and in basing livestock development interventions on scientific knowledge with the value chain in mind. The extension system has to be able to respond to the increasing demand for improved and market-oriented livestock development if farmers, pastoralists and the private commercial producers are to benefit themselves and contribute to the development of the national economy

Apiculture commodity development in Goma District: experiences from IPMS

Goma is endowed with different flora and adequate moisture which favors honey production. As a result, bee farmers started producing honey since time immemorial using traditional hives, mostly made of bamboo. Improved hive production in the Woreda started in 1987 among cooperatives formed during the military regime. In 2007, apiculture was identified as one of the priority commodity for Goma PLW through participatory priority commodities identification. Major constraints identified were shortage and/or substandard inputs supply, poor quality honey, lack of market, skill and knowledge limitations of bee farmers and technical staff. To address the challenges, value-chain development approach was exercised and in this regard the following developments were recorded. One interested honey shop was upgraded to become an apiculture input shop in Agaro town with financial assistance from OCSSCo/IPMS and technical assistance from the District Livestock Development and Production Agency (LDPA) and IPMS. This input shop supplied considerable inputs to bee farmers who also provide commercial services for their neighbours. One of the important inputs delivered to bee farmers was imported honey extractor but less demand was observed due to its high price. Moreover, one interested honey producers association named Wojin Gudina Honey Producers Association was formed and got legal identity. The association is expected to play market regulatory role, quality assurance, do bulking of member produce as well as non members to maintain bargaining power. About 44 interested farmers and 12 technical staff received skill and knowledge upgrading training and in this regard Jima University (JU) played a big role. More focus was given to transforming traditional to transitional hives (Kenya Top Bar), which was a change for the frame hives (modern hives) which had been introduced before. Twenty interested farmers received 123 transitional hives in Acha Afeta PA through credit and also transitional hive use has shown significant increase within and outside interested farmers in the last two years. To address market constraints, an effort was made to link honey producer with honey processing and export enterprises and in this regard Beza Mar honey processing and exporting enterprise has already started the process to buy Goma honey. Prior to this, an attempt was also made with another commercial processor but was not successful. The effects of various interventions are just emerging and are expected to come to full fruition over time. A household (HH) survey conducted by the project indicated however that adopters of improved apiculture technologies produced in 2008, on average, about birr 3,400 of honey per year compared to birr 225 by traditional bee keepers. Major lessons learned include that the intervention stimulated increased demand for improved hives and better use of existing hives. As compared to other Districts, involvement of private sector in the sale of accessories for improved bee hives and honey processing is emerging. Most of the honey produced from framed hives is extracted using locally made crude extractors with less or no food graded approval and also less quality honey. These extractors are operated commercially by private individuals, but require further technical support to improve quality. The development of a quality honey market is just emerging, however as indicated in the prices, no clear price incentive for quality honey is observed yet, probably because of the still relatively small volume entering into this market segment. Another indication of the still limited demand for clear honey is the increase in the numbers of traditional hives in the last two to three years