{"title":"Agricultural mechanization in Ethiopia: hiring service transactions, mechanization clusters and land consolidation","authors":"Yared Deribe Tefera, Bisrat Getnet Awoke","doi":"10.1108/jadee-06-2022-0127","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Purpose Agriculture in Ethiopia relies heavily on traditional farm power sources and is designated by the lowest farm machinery access, in contrast to other Sub-Sahara African (SSA) countries. The purpose of this research is to analyze the heterogeneity of mechanization service transactions and factors determining farmers' cooperation in mechanization clusters and willingness to accept land consolidation. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted a cross-sectional survey of producer households in major crop production areas in the Oromia, SNNPR, Amhara and Tigray regions. The sampling design involved three stages: districts were selected using a stratified sampling approach accompanied by simple random samples of kebele units and producer households in the second and final stages, respectively. Findings This study’s results show that mechanization service costs, service relationships, clustering and land consolidation exhibit significant heterogeneity across the study areas. Cluster farming was found to be advantageous against diseconomies, rationalized by upgrading the mechanization scale. The probit model parameterization of the probability distributions reveals that household, land, crop, mechanization service, remoteness and location-related factors determine participation in mechanization clusters and willingness to accept land consolidation. Research limitations/implications Fostering cooperation by focusing on constraints and demand of users is suggested to reduce transaction costs and expand hired mechanization services to unaddressed areas. The findings are relevant to most SSA countries where mechanization development is hampered by land fragmentation. Originality/value Limited information is available on agricultural mechanization development for smallholder farmers, particularly in Ethiopia, and this study adds empirical evidence about the synergy between cluster farming and mechanization, horizontal coordination and alternative supply models.","PeriodicalId":45976,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies","volume":"88 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4000,"publicationDate":"2023-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jadee-06-2022-0127","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS & POLICY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Purpose Agriculture in Ethiopia relies heavily on traditional farm power sources and is designated by the lowest farm machinery access, in contrast to other Sub-Sahara African (SSA) countries. The purpose of this research is to analyze the heterogeneity of mechanization service transactions and factors determining farmers' cooperation in mechanization clusters and willingness to accept land consolidation. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted a cross-sectional survey of producer households in major crop production areas in the Oromia, SNNPR, Amhara and Tigray regions. The sampling design involved three stages: districts were selected using a stratified sampling approach accompanied by simple random samples of kebele units and producer households in the second and final stages, respectively. Findings This study’s results show that mechanization service costs, service relationships, clustering and land consolidation exhibit significant heterogeneity across the study areas. Cluster farming was found to be advantageous against diseconomies, rationalized by upgrading the mechanization scale. The probit model parameterization of the probability distributions reveals that household, land, crop, mechanization service, remoteness and location-related factors determine participation in mechanization clusters and willingness to accept land consolidation. Research limitations/implications Fostering cooperation by focusing on constraints and demand of users is suggested to reduce transaction costs and expand hired mechanization services to unaddressed areas. The findings are relevant to most SSA countries where mechanization development is hampered by land fragmentation. Originality/value Limited information is available on agricultural mechanization development for smallholder farmers, particularly in Ethiopia, and this study adds empirical evidence about the synergy between cluster farming and mechanization, horizontal coordination and alternative supply models.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies publishes double-blind peer-reviewed research on issues relevant to agriculture and food value chain in emerging economies in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe. The journal welcomes original research, particularly empirical/applied, quantitative and qualitative work on topics pertaining to policies, processes, and practices in the agribusiness arena in emerging economies to inform researchers, practitioners and policy makers