Determinants of Onion and Cabbage Market Outlets Choices of Smallholder Farmers: The Case of Holeta town, Oromia Regional State

Abstract

Market participation and outlet choices in smallholder farmers hold considerable potential revealing suitable opportunity preparations necessary for providing better incomes and worthwhile livelihoods for the study area. Hence this study was intended to analyze determinants of market outlet choice in Holeta district, Oromia National Regional State. To achieve the objectives, 147 vegetable producers were selected following simple random sampling techniques. The collected data were analyzed using a multivariate probit model.  The model results show that the probability of choosing wholesalers, middlemen, retailers, and consumers’ market outlets was significantly affected by education level, farm experience, land size, family size, distance to near market, input utilization and credit access. Therefore, it is recommended that the government and community should improve rural infrastructure, and smallholder farm productivity through improved inputs (such as vegetable seed, chemicals and fertilizers), encouraging education, promoting farmers’ cooperatives, strengthening market information delivery systems, upgrading roads in both rural and peri-urban areas, encourage market integration initiatives, and establish accessible market outlets with improved facilities in the remote rural villages to promote production and market outlets choice in smallholder vegetable farmers.