International Journal of Agricultural Economics and Extension ISSN 2329-9797 Vol. 5 (3), pp. 277-283, March, 2017. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Determinants of small ruminant keepers’ input use and marketing practices and small ruminant productivity under six small ruminant production systems in Ethiopia

Solomon Gizaw*, Dirk Hoekstra, Berhanu Gebremedhin and AzageTegegne

International Livestock Research Institute, P.O. Box 5689, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Accept 15 March, 2017

*Corresponding author E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Information on variations in producers’ input use and marketing strategies as well as in the level of small ruminant productivity across farming systems is essential for better targeting agricultural research and development interventions. The purpose of the current study was to identify important determinants of small ruminant productivity and farmers’ decisions on input use and marketing across the six small ruminant systems identified in the mixed crop-livestock system in Ethiopia. The study was based on analysis of data collected on 2621 small ruminant keepers from four regional states, fitting a generalized regression model to the data. The results showed that there are variations among the identified six systems in the level of small ruminant productivity and producers’ input use and marketing strategies. Households’ socioeconomic characteristics such as gender and literacy status and scale of production (e.g. flock size and land holding) were found to determine input use and marketing behaviors of producers. Productivity was found to be determined by availability and use of external inputs and land holding. The impacts of the various determinants varied across production systems. This calls for system-specific targeting approach for small ruminant development as well as a value chain approach addressing constraints at critical leverage points across the small ruminant value chain and targeting appropriate value chain actors (gender, literacy, etc.) for introducing technological interventions.

Keywords: Small ruminant, production system, household characteristics, productivity, input use, marketing.