Abstract:
Market access plays an essential role in ensuring better income and enhancing welfare of
smallholder farmers and thus contributes to alleviate poverty. This is even more so in the
Ethiopian context where crop production plays an essential role in the economy. This
study investigated the determinants of smallholder farmers participation decision, which
sequentially made, in potato sales in Kofele district, Ethiopia with the objective of
identifying and analyzing factors affecting potato growers decision in supplying their
potato products to market. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select sample
households for data collection. A total of 120 potato producer households were randomly
selected from the district using probability proportional to size. Semi-structured
questionnaires were used to collect data from potato producer households through
interview. The descriptive statistics and double hurdle model were used to analyze factors
affecting smallholder farmers market participation decision and the level of participation
in potato sales. The findings demonstrate that education, livestock owned, quantity of
potato harvested, potato market price, and access to market information positively affect
farmers participation decision whereas participation in off/non-farm activity negatively
affects farmers decision to participate in potato output market. On the other hand,
livestock owned and access to market information affect farmers extent of potato sales
positively whereas family size and participation in off/non-farm activity affects the extent
of potato sales negatively. The study suggested that farmers participation decisions are
affected by abovementioned factors and policies addressing each decision process and
cross-cutting issues are required to improve farmers participation in potato output
market.
