Abstract
We examine factors affecting the choice of marketing channels for maize among male, female, and joint decision-making farm households using data from households in Dawuro zone, southern Ethiopia. Econometric results suggest that female and joint decision-makers are more likely to sell maize to consumers or retailers in the main local market where the maize price is higher than to wholesale merchants directly from the farm. Individual decision-makers (male or female) who grow improved maize varieties are more likely to sell to wholesalers directly from the farm. This may be an indication of the effectiveness of joint decisions over individual decisions related to the market price. We also found that improved maize varieties distributed to farmers in the study area are of poor quality and that there is a lack of modern storage facilities so that farmers have to sell immediately after harvest during the lower price season. Thus, there is a need for policies promoting the distribution of high-quality maize seeds and encouraging investments in the establishment of modern maize storage facilities in the study area.
Highlights
Maize is Ethiopia’s dominant cereal crop in terms of production and number of farms
We identified four major channels through which smallholder farm households in Dawuro zone sold maize during the 2017/18 cropping season: (i) direct sale to consumers in the local market,3 (ii) retailers who purchase in the main market,4 (iii) wholesalers who purchase in nearby towns,5 and (iv) collectors who purchase at the farm gate
The test failed to reject the null hypothesis of the independence of the maize marketing channel choice options, suggesting that the multinomial logit (MNL) specification is appropriate for modeling the maize marketing channel choice of the smallholder maize farm households
Summary
Maize is Ethiopia’s dominant cereal crop in terms of production and number of farms. Averaged over the period 2006 to 2017, 9.5 million smallholder farmers grew maize, over 21% of the total cereal crop production area of the country. Taken together, these farmers produce an annual average of 6.3 million tons, about 30% of total cereal production in Ethiopia (CSA 2015, 2017).
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