Garlic market chain analysis in omo beyam district of jimma zone,oromia regional state, ethiopia

Abstract

Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is the major cash crop which belongs to the family Alliaceae and genus Allium, and is a shallow rooted vegetable crop. Though garlic is economically important, its market chain have not yet been studied and documented in study area. This study attempted to analyze performance of garlic market chain, analyzing determinants of garlic marketed supplly and assess the constraints and opportunities of garlic productions and marketing in the study area. Primary data were obtained from 152 randomly selected garlic producers and purposively selected 30 traders. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected using pretested structured questionnaire and checklists. Descriptive statistics, market structure-conductperformance approach and econometric models were used to analyze the data. Result of this study showed that the main garlic market chain actors in the study area were producers, local collectors, wholesalers, retailer and consumers.Result of profit margin shows that, farmers doing all the work of producing garlic and bearing the associated risks, took 54.89% of the profit margin. This impliedly, garlic producers added 54.89% of the total value of garlic in the woreda; whereas, collectors, wholesalers, retailer are responsible for 8.29%, 15.88% and 20.94% respectively.The result of Multiple Regression Model indicated that experience of garlic production, total land size of household, education level of household, extension service, distance from nearest market and number of oxen owned were significantly influenced the amount of garlic supplied to the market. The major constraints of garlic production and marketing were disease and insect pest, low access to improved inputs, shortage of irrigation water and land, price fluctuation, collateral problem to get credit, poor storage facilities and weak linkage between farmers and traders. To solve these problems increased access to improved inputs, facilitating irrigation technology, strengthening credit institutions, technical trainings on garlic crop husbandry, strengthening the linkage among garlic producer and market chain actors(traders) and strengthening supportive institutions and establishment of storage are recommended.