Abstract
Marketing outlets choice is one of the most important farm household decisions to sell their produce and has a great impact on household income. Though the study area has great potential of honey production, the farmers in the study area faced the marketing problem in choice of appropriate honey market outlets. This study was therefore carried out to analyze determinants of honey producers’ market outlet choice decisions in Chena district. A total of 154 honey-producing households were surveyed, and the data obtained were analyzed by using multivariate probit model. The results show that most sampled households in the study area sell their honey to cooperative outlet as compare to other outlets. The results of the econometric model show the dependency of household level marketing decisions as a strategy to maximize their incomes in the long term. The model results also reveal that the quantity of honey sold, frequency extension contact, beekeeping experience, distance to nearest market, market information about each outlet, cooperative membership, and trust in buyers determine market outlet choice decision of honey producers in the study area. Expanding equal accessibility of infrastructures, establishing honey collection centers in potential production areas, increasing the frequency of extension contact, and organizing additional beekeepers into honey cooperatives is suggested.
Highlights
Beekeeping is one of the oldest farming practices in Ethiopia as a result of its forests and woodlands which contain diverse plant species that provide surplus nectar and pollen to foraging bees (Workneh, 2011)
This article has analyzed the influence of the characteristics of beekeepers, their production systems, and the marketing context on their market outlets’ choice decision
The results show that beekeepers use different alternative market outlets such as retailers, cooperatives, local collectors, and consumers
Summary
Beekeeping is one of the oldest farming practices in Ethiopia as a result of its forests and woodlands which contain diverse plant species that provide surplus nectar and pollen to foraging bees (Workneh, 2011). There were no comprehensive earlier studies which investigated the factors affecting honey producers’ market outlets’ choice decision is in the southern region where there is higher amount of honey producers in Ethiopia Research in this area is vital for understanding the problems related to the honey market outlet choice decision and its determinants. Knowledge on how marketing routes will lead producers to select alternative market outlets to sell their supply that maximizes their profit which in turn results in increases of household income The implication of these for national and international trades in apiculture is the way to design any policy or institutional innovation to improve marketing for the benefit of the poor (Kifle et al, 2015). This study attempts to investigate how the characteristics of honey producers, their resource endowment, production and marketing characteristics, and institutional service delivery jointly affect honey market outlet choice in Chena district
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