Abstract:
Promoting commercialization of agricultural production is a cornerstone of the rural development strategies of Ethiopia and commercialization of smallholder farming is not yet adequate enough to enable farmers profitable. This study was designed to analyze the current levels of barley commercialization and its determinants in Jeldu District, west Shewa,Oromia , Ethiopia. Two-stages sampling procedure was followed to select 146 barley producer farmers from four randomly selected kebeles. An interview schedule was used to collect household survey data during the 2021/2022 farming season. The Household Commercialization Index was used to assess the levels of market participation, Econometrics was used to identify the key factors that influence farmers’ barley commercialization and Kendall’s coefficient of concordance was used to assess the constraints. The model result indicated that education of household head, family size, land holding size, land allocated to barley farm output, participation in off/non-farm activities, lagged barley market price, access to market information and cooperative membership were found to significantly influence the probability of participation in barley output market. The results also revealed that high cost of fertilizer and delayed delivery and poor road were the most pressing barley production and commercialization of small holder household constraints. Based on the findings, the study recommends that government should give emphasize on rural education system, family planning program, productivity improving measures, access to communication facilities and institutional services, enhance the female headed households and improving rural roads
