The Contribution of Smallholder Cash Cropping to Household Food Security: The Case of onion Producers in Alamata Woreda, Tigray, Ethiopia
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Date
2007-07
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
A growing body of empirical evidence shows that smallholder cash cropping has
contribution to ensuring household food security through improving farm households'
income and enhancing food crop productivity. Further more, it has been argued that cash
crop and food crop production can compliment each other in improving farmers' income
and achieving household food security. Besides, cash cropping also has a positive effect
on food crop productivity by supplying with more draft animals, agricultural inputs and
hired labor. Similarly, income from cash cropping relieves the meager income of poor
farm households from being depleted by other non food expenditures of households.
Nevertheless, smallholder cash cropping can be constrained with inadequate extension
service, inefficient market system, and insufficient and untimely supply of modern inputs.
This study was conducted to "assess the contribution of onion production to household
food security in Alamata woreda: To this end, an empirical analysis was done using
descriptive analysis in comparative fashion between onion producing and non producing
households using data collected by household survey and other qualitative methods of
data collection. Statistical tools such as T-test and Chi-Square have been employed to
test the variation in some important variables. The study found out that onion production
has a significant contribution to household food security via improving the income of
producing household anrl improving the productivity of food crop productivity. The
majority of producing households have been found to be more food secure than their non
producing counterparts. In addition, many onions producing farmer shave bought oxen
with money obtained from onion sale. Similarly, it was observed that income from onion
was used to cover other non food expenditures such as education, health, clothing and
ceremonial expenses. In general, it was observed that the total mean income of producers
was almost twofold of that of non producers, the major factor for this variation being
income from onion sale. Finally, the researcher recommends that in promoting market
oriented smallholder cash cropping, problems related to extension service, market
development, and provision of modern agricultural inputs should be addressed. In
addition, area specific potentials should be exploited for efficient cash cropping and
thereby ensure food security of farm households.
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Keywords
Cropping to Household Food Security