Agricultural Product Marketing: Challenges Towards a Commercial Approach With Particular Reference to Cereal Crops a Case Study in Bahir Dar Zuria Woreda
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Date
2007-07
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Agriculture is the main stay of Ethiopia's economy and it is the point of
concern in today's policy arena. The present government has given a due
and prior importance to the sector and have subscribed to Agricultural
Development led Industrialization policy as basic strategy of the economy.
However, Ethiopian agriculture is intertwined with multiple problems such
as traditional means of farming along with minimum use of modern
imputes; ever increasing population and consequently small amount of plot
per household; poor market infrastructure which is characterized by
insatiability of prices, financial and credit problems, post harvest losses,
transportation and communication problems, high and exorbitant
transaction costs etc. Market among other things playa make or break role
in agricultural development and transformation since increase In
production is no more than useless in the absence of efficient markets.
This study aims to asses the challenges of agricultural product marketing
with reference to cereal crop producing farmers in Bahir Dar Zuria woreda
in terms of production, pricing and distribution of agricultural crops and
identifying the major actors in the sector at the woreda. To this end a
survey was made on 200 farm households selected from the woreda and
the data obtained from the survey (from184 valid cases) was analyzed
using descriptive statistics such as percentages, frequencies and graphs.
It was learned from the study that farmers who produce the products,
consumers who purchase the products for consumption (both rural and
urban), retailers and assemblers who purchase the products for profit
purpose are the main actors of agricultural product marketing at the
woreda level. Majority of farmers in the study woreda are subsistence
oriented in their production decision and hence their business/ commercial
motive is low. They mostly select the products that they cultivate in line
with crop rotation needs, land suitability for the crop under consideration
and food habit of the family members and the society around. Their
consideration of market prices is low. Land scarcity and lack of finance to
buy agricultural imputes are the main problems of the farmers. When it
comes to pricing most farmers are not informed about the price of similar
products in other woredas due to lack information and communication
technologies. Distribution wise majority of the farmers transport their
products by traditional methods mainly through animal backs such as
donkeys and mules.
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Agricultural Product Marketing