Abstract

Solomon Gizaw, Dirk Hoekstra, Berhanu Gebremedhin and AzageTegegne

Information on variations in producers’ input use and marketing strategies as well as in the level of small
ruminant productivity across farming systems is essential for better targeting agricultural research and
development interventions. The purpose of the current study was to identify important determinants of small
ruminant productivity and farmers’ decisions on input use and marketing across the six small ruminant
systems identified in the mixed crop-livestock system in Ethiopia. The study was based on analysis of data
collected on 2621 small ruminant keepers from four regional states, fitting a generalized regression model to
the data. The results showed that there are variations among the identified six systems in the level of small
ruminant productivity and producers’ input use and marketing strategies. Households’ socioeconomic
characteristics such as gender and literacy status and scale of production (e.g. flock size and land holding)
were found to determine input use and marketing behaviors of producers. Productivity was found to be
determined by availability and use of external inputs and land holding. The impacts of the various determinants
varied across production systems. This calls for system-specific targeting approach for small ruminant
development as well as a value chain approach addressing constraints at critical leverage points across the
small ruminant value chain and targeting appropriate value chain actors (gender, literacy, etc.) for introducing
technological interventions.