Challenges of Mango Fruit Marketing : A Case of Selected Kebeles in Assosa District, Benishangul Gumuz Region, Western Ethiopia

The major objective of this study is assessing the challenges of mango fruit marketing in Assosa District, Western Ethiopia. There are 74 rural kebeles under Assosa District, from them 19 kebeles were selected based on the presence of mango fruit production which is 25% of total population. Among these, 7 of them were already incorporated in mango fruit cooperatives and the remaining 12 were not. Data were collected from 369 (155 households were from a member of mango fruit cooperatives and 214 were not) mango producing households through questionnaire and focus group discussion with selected 4 cooperative leaders from different kebeles, managers of mango fruit union, 4 mango producers who aren’t a members of mango fruit cooperatives and 2 representatives of Assosa District Agricultural office. Thematic content analysis was used to analyze data collected through focus group discussion. Finally, it was found that basic challenges in marketing of mango fruit includes: lack of market price information, loss of ownership on determining price for their product, lack of legal intermediaries in the market, lack of transportation, absence of nearby market, insufficient application of promotional tools, problems encountered during post-harvest process (pests and disease), problems in supply of chemicals and fertilizers, lack of support from government, and stiff competition specifically between unions and brokers. In addition, regarding farmers group, mango fruit producers who aren’t members of cooperatives were facing much more problems than farmers under cooperative in marketing their product.