Review on Constraints of Fruit Marketing in Ethiopia

Abstract

The review aims at reviewing the organizations, linkages and lines of movements of fruit products to understand the major constraints of marketing functions and opportunities to improve fruit production and marketing. Most of the fruits produced in Ethiopia are consumed locally and are produced by small holder farmers. The major constraints of marketing include lack of markets to absorb the production, low price for the products, large number of middlemen in the marketing system, lack of marketing institutions safeguarding farmers' interest and rights over their marketable produces, lack of coordination among producers to increase their bargaining power, poor product handling and packaging, imperfect pricing system, lack of transparency in market information system mainly in the export market. Informal transaction prevails in the export system. There is a lack of standard for quality control and hence lack of discriminatory pricing system that accounts for quality and grades of the products. Due to the fact that the main aim of this paper is to review the constraints of fruit marketing in Ethiopia and specifically to review factors affecting fruit supply in Ethiopia and to review the organization, linkage and lines of movement of fruit products and production inputs. The most crucial ones are Building their business capacity and overcoming their constraints and capacitating them to use market information are important.