Characterization of fruit production and market performance in northwest Ethiopia.

Background: In Ethiopia, fruits pose a significant production and marketing challenge for farm households that significantly affect their farm profitability due to their perishability and unpredictable seasonal pricing. For instance, seasonally, market prices vary depending on the quality and quantity of fruit products available on the market. Stemming from this logical ground, this study is initiated with the objective of characterizing production systems and market performance of fruits in Ethiopia, focusing on apple and mango crops. Methods: A random sampling approach was used for producers and snowball sampling for traders when selecting survey participants. A pre-tested survey questionnaire was used for data collection. Descriptive statistics and market margins were used for statistical analysis. Results: Post-harvest wastage is preventing farmers from receiving anticipated revenue, implying that approximately 31.8 and 26.1% of the total mango and apple produce was lost, respectively. According to the survey results, there was no measurement consistency among farmers, local collectors, and small retailers. District level collectors received a higher margin share (42.66 and 40.18% of apple and mango, respectively) than other actors in the chain, which was unjustified given their contribution to the market chain. Farmers were comparatively hampered by the market since they earned the lowest share (33.34 and 15.08% of apple and mango, respectively) of consumer prices indicating that the apple and mango market chain performance is poor. As a consequence, these all deter farmers from producing in large quantities, quality, and also uncertainty (fair failure in the mind of farmers) in the marketing of apples and mangoes. Conclusions: The awareness of small-scale farmers about most of the agronomic practices including insect pests and diseases were very low. Hence, this study recommended that there is an urgent need from district agricultural offices to improve mango and apple production and marketing systems in the study districts.

Small-Scale Woodlot Growers' Interest in Participating in Bioenergy Market In Rural Ethiopia.

Production of value-added outputs from biomass residues represents an opportunity to increase the supply of renewable energy in Ethiopia. Particularly, agroforestry could provide biomass residues for improved bioenergy products. The aim of this study was to characterize the interest of growers to provide biomass residues to a hypothetical biomass feedstock market. This study relied on a survey conducted on a sample of 240 farmers. Although the awareness of potential biomass products was generally quite low, a majority of farmers expressed interest in supplying biomass residues, but the level of interest depended on certain individual socio-economic and demographic characteristics. For example, younger and female household heads were found to be more interested in participating in the hypothetical biomass market, as were households with an improved biomass stove, larger land holdings, and higher income levels. In addition, larger households and those that felt less vulnerable to firewood scarcity also expressed more interest. As a whole, the results imply that farmers, particularly those with younger and female heads of households, should be supported with programs tailored to ensure their inclusion in biomass supply chains. Respondents generally preferred farm-gate sales of biomass, so the collecting, baling, and transporting of woody residues need to be properly incentivized or new actors need to be recruited into the supply chain. Providing households with energy-efficient tools such as improved stoves would not only increase demand for biomass products, but also increase the amount of biomass residues that could be supplied to the market instead of used at home.

Cost-benefit analysis of on-farm grain storage hermetic bags among small-scale maize growers in northwestern Ethiopia.

Farmers continue losing substantial quantities of grain during storage due to damages from pests including insects. Hermetic bags, being promoted in Ethiopia, could be viable alternatives to traditional methods and insecticides that are commonly used by farmers to store grain. However, the economics and determinants behind farmers' decisions to use different storage methods are poorly understood. This study sought to ascertain the economics of hermetic grain storage technology among 450 representative small-scale maize farmers in northwestern Ethiopia. Gross margin (GM), and the marginal rate of return (MRR) were employed to estimate the economic costs and benefits of storage methods, while a multivariate probit regression model was employed to analyze the determinants of farmers' decision to store maize with a given storage method. The results show that farmers used a combination of different storage techniques: 19.6% did not store grain, 87.8% used traditional methods with pesticide, and 66.7% used Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) hermetic bags. Farmers who used hermetic bags also used other mentioned storage techniques. PICS had the highest GM (US$21.77 100 kg-1) and MRR (3.196), indicating that they were the most profitable. Moreover, a household could obtain an additional net cash flow of US$5.02 100 kg-1 PICS bag per season after 9.6 months of storage. Farmers' decisions to use PICS bags were influenced by several factors including access to information, the initial cost, and storage capacity of the technology. Thus, increasing awareness and improving supply chain efficiency to reduce the cost of the PICS bags would improve adoption rates.