Major Red Beans Marketing Channels in Halaba Special District, Ethiopia
Agete Jerena Kabeto
Citation :Agete Jerena Kabeto, Major Red Beans Marketing Channels in Halaba Special District, Ethiopia International Journal of Research Studies in Agricultural Sciences 2017,3(12) : 8-17
Exploring available marketing channel and selecting the best rewarding among is as important as production decision. This study attempted to explore available marketing channels and constraints associated with red beans producers and traders in the study area. In Halaba Special District (HSD) production of red beans got attention from both farmers and government side but available market channels and associated margin were not explored. This study aims to identify the available red beans market channel and explore associated margins through field survey and Focus group discussion (FGD). The survey was conducting through field interviews based on a questionnaire that was designed for both red beans farmers and traders. The questionnaire was pre-tested and a sample of 150 red beans farmers and 33 red beans traders were selected at random. Both descriptive statistics and qualitative analysis for (FGD) were used. There were seven major red beans market channels in HSD. In terms of quantity of red beans handled only two market channels seemed important, i.e., urban collectors and wholesalers who handled 79 and 19 percent respectively. Results indicated that red beans farmers obtain highest market profit (2.2) in channel II when they sold their produce directly to wholesalers and producer market share (65.16) was highest in this channel as well. Furthermore, significant difference were observed between red beans farmers who sold their output and those who did not sell their red beans with regard land allocation, quantity produced, quantity of red beans consumed, and post harvest losses of red beans. Research results indicated that, there is need to bring policy that supports red beans farmers to sell their produce directly to wholesalers and hence, increase their margins.