Crop Productivity as Influenced by Commercial Orientation of Smallholder Farmers in the Highlands of Eastern Ethiopia
Downloads
Abstract: Smallholder farmers in Ethiopia are characterized by low crop production and productivity. As a result, production is primarily for self-consumption with a possibility of supplying only a small part of total output to the local markets. Despite their undisputed importance, most studies in Ethiopia focused on smallholder farmers’ commercial orientation and analyzed the determinants of the proportion of output sold in crop markets and failed to analyze the relationship between crop productivity and commercial orientation. Therefore, this research was conducted to elucidate synergies existing between commercial orientation and total factor productivity (TFP) among smallholder farm households in the highlands of Eastern Ethiopia. The study was conducted in four districts: two districts, namely, Gurawa and Haramaya were selected from eastern highlands of the region, and two districts, namely, Tullo and Habro were selected from eastern Hararghe highlands). A total of 385 sample household heads were selected randomly and interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire to elicit data pertaining to crop production input and output market during the year 2015. A two-stage least squares (2SLS) regression model was applied for the analysis. Results of the 2SLS regression indicated that total factor productivity was strongly and positively influenced by the endogenous commercial orientation index. In addition, the number of oxen owned, market distance, extension visits, amount of manure used, quantity of labor used, and location dummy influenced TFP.
Â
Keywords: Commercial orientation; Total factor productivity; Two-stage least square
Adam, B., Kassa, B., Belayineh, L. and Tesfaye L. 2010. Effects of crop commercial orientation on productivity of smallholder farmers in drought-prone areas of the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia. Journal of Rural Development, 33 (4): 105-128
Adam, B. 2009. Determinants of commercial orientation of smallholder farm households in risk prone areas of Ethiopia: Analysis of the Central Rift Valley. PhD Dissertation, Haramaya University, Haramya, Ethiopia.
Adane, T. 2009. Impact of perennial cash cropping on food crop production and productivity. Ethiopian Journal of Economics, 18 (1): 1-34.
Barrett, C. B. 2008. Smallholder market participation: concepts and evidence from Eastern and Southern Africa. Food Policy, 33 (4): 299-317.
Bedaso, T., Wondwosen, T. and Mesfin, K. 2012. Commercialization of Ethiopian smallholder farmer’s production: Factors and Challenges behind. Paper presented on the Tenth International Conference on the Ethiopian Economy, Ethiopian Economics Association, July 19-21, 2012, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Berhanu, G., Hoekstra, D. and Azage, T. 2006. Commercialization of Ethiopian agriculture: Extension service from input supplier to knowledge broker and facilitator. (IPMS) of Ethiopian farmers project Working Paper I. ILRI, Nairobi, Kenya.
CSA (Central Statistics Agency). 2008. Agricultural sample survey (separately for years 2000/01-2007/08). Report on area and production of crops: private peasant holdings, Meher season. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
CSA (Central Statistics Agency). 2009. Agricultural sample survey report on area and production of crops 2008-2009(2001 E.C), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
CSA (Central Statistics Agency). 2012. Central Statistical Authority of Ethiopia, reports of the 1994 and 2007 population and housing census and 2012 inter-central survey.
Coelli, T. J., Rao, D. S. P. and Battese, G. E. 1998. An introduction to efficiency and productivity analysis. Kluwer Academic Publishers, USA. pp. 91-92.
Govereh, J. and Jayne, T. S. 2003. Cash cropping and food productivity: Synergies or tradeoffs? Agricultural Economics, 28: 39-50.
MoFED (Ministry of Finance and Economic Development). 2010. The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) 2010/11-2014/15, Addis Ababa.
NPC (National Planning Commission). 2016. Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Growth and Transformation Plan II (GTP II) (2015/16-2019/20).Volume I: NPC May, 2016, Addis Ababa.
IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development). 2001. Rural poverty report 2001: The challenge of ending rural poverty. New York: Oxford University Press.
IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development) 2003. Promoting market access for the rural poor in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Discussion paper. Rome.
Israel, G. D. 1992. Sampling the evidence of extension program impact. Program evaluation and organizational development, IFAS, University of Florida. PEOD-5.
Kothari, C. R. 2004. Research Methodology: Methods and techniques (2nd Edn.). New Age International, New Delhi, India.
Lerman, Z. 2004. Policies and institutions for commercialization of subsistence farms in transition countries. Journal of Asian Economics, 15: 461–479.
Melaku, T. 2011. Oxenization versus tractorization: Options and constraints for Ethiopian framing system. International Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, 3 (1): 11-20.
MoARD (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development). 2010. Ethiopia’s agriculture sector policy and investment framework: Ten year road map (2010–2020) draft. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Moti, J. and Gardebroek, C. 2008. Crop and market outlet choice interactions at household level. Ethiopian Journal of Economics, 7 (1): 29-47.
Stock, J. H. and Yogo. M. 2005. Testing for weak instruments in linear IV regression. In: identification and inference for econometric models: Essays in honor of Thomas Rothenberg, Andrews D.W.K. and Stock, J. H. (Eds.). pp. 80–108. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Strasberg, P. J., Jayne, T. S., Yamano, T., Nyoro, J., Karanja, D. and Strauss, J. 1999. Effects of agricultural commercialization on food cop input use and productivity in Kenya. Department of Agricultural Economics and Department of Economics. MSU International Development Working Paper No. 71. Michigan State University.
UNDP (United Nations Development Programme). 2015. Ethiopia: Key economic and social indicators. UNDP Ethiopia’s policy advisory unit, 2015, No. 2.
von Braun, J., Bouis, H. and Kennedy, E. 1994. Conceptual framework. pp. 11-36. In: von Braun, J. and Kennedy, E. (Eds.). Agricultural Commercialization, Economic Development, and Nutrition. The Johns Hopkins Press Ltd., Maryland.
von Braun, J. 1995. Agricultural commercialization: Impacts on income and nutrition and implications for policy. Food Policy, 20 (3): 187-202
Copyright (c) 2017 Alelign Ademe, Belaineh Legesse, Jema Haji, Degye Goshu
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
- I am authorized by my co-authors to enter into these arrangements.
- I warrant, on behalf of myself and my co-authors, that:
- the article is original, has not been formally published in any other peer-reviewed journal, is not under consideration by any other journal and does not infringe any existing copyright or any other third party rights;
- I am/we are the sole author(s) of the article and have full authority to enter into this agreement and in granting rights to Springer are not in breach of any other obligation;
- the article contains nothing that is unlawful, libellous, or which would, if published, constitute a breach of contract or of confidence or of commitment given to secrecy;
- I/we have taken due care to ensure the integrity of the article. To my/our - and currently accepted scientific - knowledge all statements contained in it purporting to be facts are true and any formula or instruction contained in the article will not, if followed accurately, cause any injury, illness or damage to the user.
- I, and all co-authors, agree that the article, if editorially accepted for publication, shall be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0. If the law requires that the article be published in the public domain, I/we will notify Springer at the time of submission, and in such cases the article shall be released under the Creative Commons 1.0 Public Domain Dedication waiver. For the avoidance of doubt it is stated that sections 1 and 2 of this license agreement shall apply and prevail regardless of whether the article is published under Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 or the Creative Commons 1.0 Public Domain Dedication waiver.
- I, and all co-authors, agree that, if the article is editorially accepted for publication in Haramaya Journals, data included in the article shall be made available under the Creative Commons 1.0 Public Domain Dedication waiver, unless otherwise stated. For the avoidance of doubt it is stated that sections 1, 2, and 3 of this license agreement shall apply and prevail.
