Market Chain Analysis of Agro-forestry Products: The Case of Fruit at Tembaro District, Kembata Tembaro Zone South Ethiopia

Abstract

Ethiopia has a variety of fruit crops grown in different agro ecological Zones by small farmers, mainly as a source of income as well as food. The nature of the product on one hand and the lack of market system on the other hand have resulted in low producers’ price and hence low benefit by the producers. This study was carried out to analyse the market chain of agroforestry products such as mango, avocado and banana. Two kebeles were selected based on the presence of fruit production. Data was collected from 140 mango, banana and avocado producing households, 7 local collectors and 13 retailers through structured interview, focus group discussion, key informant interviews, market assessment as well as field observation. Structure, Conduct and Performance (SCP) approach was used to analyze avocado, banana and mango market also OLS (Multiple linear regression model) was used to analyzed factors that determine banana, mango and avocado market supply of the producers in the area. The market actors in the survey period were producers, rural assemblers, retailers, and consumers. Banana, mango and avocado market structure in the area shows the competitive nature. Among the different variables that were hypothesized as determining factors for volume of marketable supply the econometric result showed that price, access to extension service, distance, access to market information and quantity produced for mango and avocado were significant whereas active family size, distance, quantity produced, access to market information, and price for banana were significant. For each fruit types there are four marketing channels. Among the channels the producer-retailer-consumer channel was identified as the first important marketing channel in terms of volumes of each fruits transacted while the producer-local collector-consumer channel was identified as the least marketing channel in terms of volumes of each fruits transacted. Fruit trading in the study area is considered as a low profile activity mainly handled by female traders. There is a tradition that trading fruits in the study area is not by male. So, it is strongly recommended that stockholders will give awareness creation for the society in order to minimize such kind of tradition from the society and to encourage male fruit traders in the study area.