Determinants of Market Participation of Enset (Ensete Ventricosum) producers: The case of Chena district, Kaffa zone, South western Ethiopia

Abstract

Enset based farming is an indigenous agricultural system and more than 20% of Ethiopia’s population depends on enset for food, feed, and fiber. Due to different factors, enset production is seemingly limited to consumption purpose and most of producers sold small amounts of products like Kocho, bulla and fiber.This study was conducted with major objective of: assessing determinants of market participation of enset producers in Chena district in Kaffa zone of south western Ethiopia. Two-stage sampling technique was employed to select four Kebeles and 101 representative enset producers. Both primary and secondary data sources were used to gather necessary data for analysis. Both descriptive statistics and econometric model were used to analyze the data. A Heckman two stage model was employed to assess the determinants of households’ decision in market participation of enset products and the amount of gross income earned. Econometric model results showed that; sex, education level, livestock owned, distance from nearest market center, enset plantation, and transport access were found to be significant in influencing the probability of market participation decision. Furthermore, education level, family size, distance from nearest market cente, enset plantation, and transport access affected the amount of gross income earned from sale of enset products. The result suggests the need for stakeholders’ involvement to enable market-oriented production of crop to capacitate farmers for better production and market supply to have increased amount of income and proper utilization of the crop.