Abstract:
Livestock market participation is an important way to improve the
livelihoods and income of the smallholder farmers in Southwest Ethiopia. Although
it plays an important role, livestock producers do not fully participate in the livestock
market. The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that influence the
intensity of livestock market participation in Southwest Ethiopia. To analyze the
result, descriptive statistics and Poisson regression analysis were used. The results
showed that 65.4% of the respondents have participated in livestock markets
whereas 34.6% were not market participants. The Poisson regression result showed
that experience in livestock production, education status, market access, access to
grazing land, livestock owned and extension contact frequency affect positively
while distance to a nearby market affects negatively and significantly on theintensity of livestock market participation. Based on the result of the study; lack of
market access, long market distance, and lack of updated market information are
the factors influencing livestock producers to engage in livestock market participa-
tion. Finally, this study suggests boosting farmer education through adult education
and developing rural infrastructure (updated market information, road, and market
and transport access), increase in farmers’ training centers, improves consultation
and training service could enhance the intensity of livestock market participation.
