3.1. Socioeconomic Characteristics of Farm households
Among others, the sample respondents reported that the majority of them have completed on average grade 3 and there is no statistically significant difference in the study area. On the other hand, distance to the nearest market, distance to the nearest development center, experience in farming of MAPs are significantly different between the two study areas (Table 1).
Table 1: Socioeconomic Characteristics of Respondent Households
Variables
|
woreda
|
ttest
|
Enamor and inner
|
Sebeta
|
Mean
|
Min
|
Max
|
Mean
|
Min
|
Max
|
|
Age of household head
|
45.8
|
22
|
75
|
45.1
|
23
|
77
|
0.3
|
Education of the household
|
3.1
|
0
|
11
|
2.5
|
0
|
10
|
1.0
|
Distance of your residence from the nearest market center
|
0.8
|
0
|
1.5
|
1.6
|
0.2
|
3
|
-9.3***
|
Distance of your residence to the nearest development center
|
0.3
|
0
|
1
|
0.4
|
0
|
3
|
-0.4
|
Distance of your residence to the nearest market for MAps product
|
0.8
|
0
|
2
|
1.6
|
0
|
3
|
-7.2***
|
Experience in farming
|
24.8
|
4
|
50
|
10.8
|
1
|
40
|
8.9***
|
Experience in MAPs production
|
6.6
|
2
|
27
|
2.3
|
0
|
35
|
4.7***
|
Total farm land in Ha
|
0.9
|
0.0
|
4
|
1.8
|
0
|
6.3
|
-4.7515
|
Source: Survey data, 2018
Demographic aspect of the respondents
The survey result showed that the percentage of married, unmarried but spouse away, divorced, widowed of the households during the study was not statistically significantly different (Table 2).
Table 2: Marital status of the household head
woreda
|
Marital status of the household head
|
|
Chi2
|
married
|
unmarried
|
divorced
|
widowed
|
Total
|
Enamor and inner
|
64
(95.52)
|
1
(1.49)
|
1
(1.49)
|
1
(1.49)
|
67
(100)
|
5.5
|
Sebeta Awas
|
61
(87.14)
|
3
(4.29)
|
0
(0)
|
6
(8.57)
|
70
(100)
|
Total
|
125
(91.24)
|
4
(2.92)
|
1
(0.73)
|
7
(5.11)
|
137
(100)
|
Source: Survey data, 2018
According to the respondents, the trend of MAPs availability over the last five was decreasing in Sebeta Awas (57%) than Enamor and Inner (28%) and similarly, increasing in Enamor and Inner (40%) and Sebeta Awas (14%) and these differences are statistically significant (Table 3).
Table 3: Trend of the production of Aromatic and medicinal plants in the study area
Items
|
woreda
|
Total
|
Chi2
|
Enamor and Inner
|
Sebeta
|
what is the trend of MAPs availability over the last five years
|
Increasing
|
27
(40.3)
|
10
(14.49)
|
37
(27.21)
|
14.7***
|
Decreasing
|
19
(28.36)
|
39
(56.52)
|
58
(42.65)
|
Remain the same
|
21
(31.34)
|
20
(28.99)
|
41
(30.15)
|
Total
|
67
(100)
|
69
(100)
|
136
(100)
|
Source: Survey data, 2018
The study result showed that on average farmers allocate more acres of their farm land for Rosemary herbal production in Enamor and Inner than Sebeta Awas but on average, the price for Rosemary herbal production per quintal was higher in Sebeta Awas than Enamor and Inner and this is because Sebeta Awas is closer to Addis Ababa city the capital of Oromia region, Ethiopia and Africa (Figure 2).
3.2. Collectors / Processors
Collectors and / or processors are independent operators at primary markets who assemble and transport rosemary from smallholder farmers, using pack animals and small trucks for sale to larger markets. The local traders play the key role in the rosemary value chain in area; their
trading activities include buying and assembling, drying, repacking, sorting, and selling to
wholesalers typically transport on donkeys or cart to nearest district town. Their major sales outlets are both retailers and wholesalers. These local traders collect rosemary for wholesalers and wholesalers purchase from collectors by covering all cost and also additional fee
for their services.
Processing of rosemary, in the sense of drying and value addition is much practiced in the study areas. Processing function is undertaken by collectors and farmers, in which case dry and cleaned rosemary is sold to consumers. Rosemary is commonly used in the form of spice (flavor) in powdered pepper and used in fresh for meat and so known as “sega metbesha‟. Nowadays, using rosemary as flavoring is becoming common in major towns of the country.
3.3. Wholesalers
Wholesalers are traders that buy rosemary from rural collectors and also directly from
farmers, usually those in surplus areas for resale in deficit, to larger market centers and
retailers with better financial and information capacity. Wholesalers are the major buyers of
rosemary as they buy at least a truck load of rosemary at a time from farmers. They mostly
purchase from farmers and local collectors. There are no wholesalers who have the license
to do wholesale in the study district. But the majority of wholesalers are located outside the
districts mainly in Addis Ababa (Merkato). Wholesalers mostly purchase in bulk from
the districts, transport and sell the produce to the major towns of regional markets like Adama, Bahirdar and Hawassa. Wholesalers buy rosemary from producers through collectors who represent them in rosemary buying activities. They have better storage, transport and communication access than other traders.
3.4. Retailers
Retailers are key actors in rosemary value chain within and outside the study area. These
are known for their limited capacity of purchasing and handling products and low financial
and information capacity. They are the last link between producers and consumers. There
are two types of retailers in the study area district retailers and central retailers. District
retailers are buying rosemary either from farmers or wholesale traders. The supermarket and shops are mainly in the major cities and commonly buy rosemary from wholesalers (in dry form). During the market visit, it was observed that retailers keep small amount of rosemary. Consumers usually buy the product from retailers as they offer according to requirement and purchasing power of the buyers.
3.5. Consumers
Consumers are the end buyers of rosemary products mostly from retailers for consumption
purpose in the form of spice. Rosemary consumers are individual households (rural and urban dwellers) hotels and institutions.
3.6. Enablers and facilitators
In a value chain, enablers include all chain-specific actors providing regular support services
or representing the common interest of the value chain actors. The supporting function
players for the rosemary value chain are those who are not directly related to the rosemary
value chain but provide different supports to the value chain actors. The support functions
include different services like research and development, and information. Support service providers are essential for value chain development and include sector specific input and equipment providers, financial services, extension service, and market information access and dissemination, technology suppliers, advisory service, etc. In the study areas however, there are no institutions supporting the rosemary value chain in one way or another. The commonly expected support providers are District Agriculture Office, District Irrigation and Development Authority, District Trade and Market Development Office, Cooperatives, Oromia and Omo Micro Finance Institutions, Private transporters, and Wondo Genet Agricultural Research Center. The key informant’s interview show that the producers get extension service on general agriculture but no on improving the technical skill of the rosemary producers.
Wondo Genet Agricultural Research Center is involved in developing improved variety of rosemary seedling for wider adaptation, high biomass yield and resistant to biotic and abiotic stress. But the farmers are not receiving sufficient service regarding finance related issue in the study area. In the study areas, there are no cooperatives that support producers in the value chain of rosemary as expected. This is due to lack of recognition and emphasis of district administrations to organize cooperatives on rosemary production and marketing in the form of farmers associations to help the value chain function efficiently.
3.6. Value chain governance
Governance structure gives information about the position of the rosemary producers in the chain and the relations with purchasers. The producers‟ position in price negotiation is not good in the study area. Due to lack of valuable market information and not well-organized producers‟ heavily depend on traders. Hence, they are price takers and hardly negotiate the price due to fear of post-harvest loss, in case the product is not sold. From focus group discussion producers reported that co-ordination among the value chain actors was low and also there were the complexity of information and knowledge sharing among the chain.
Assessment made indicates that the wholesalers are the main rosemary value chain governors. Moreover, the study also revealed that the governance structure exercised was favorable to wholesalers and retailers and leaves smallholders and consumers in a weak position with other value chain actors. Wholesalers have sufficient information about the supply of rosemary and which direction it flows along the marketing channels and markets in different parts of the country. The wholesalers in Addis Ababa markets are well networked with each other’s but informally. These traders exchange information on rosemary prices, local supply situation and the prospects of harvest in their area. Then, they agree on the price at which the buyer is willing to take the price so that the seller determines the farmers‟ price taking into account his profit margins. Except this networking and business relation, there is no formal collateral when the transaction takes place.
Mapping and Marketing Margin analysis
The study identified actors and their functions in the value chain from early production up to the final consumption. The analysis of marketing channels is intended to provide a systematic knowledge of the flow of goods and services from its origin of production to final destination.
Marketing margin was calculated to examine the performance of the chain actors by taking the difference between producers and consumer prices.
![](https://myfiles.space/user_files/58854_b38fc7f3db2c487f/58854_custom_files/img1683143163.png)
Generally, the governance structure in the study area was characterized by low coordination among the value chain actors in information exchange and knowledge transfer and low involvement in changing the rules and regulations that was exercised in the study area. Therefore, care should be taken in order to create a co-ordination mechanism among the value chain actors and encouraged all actors in changing the rules and regulations that was exercised in the study areas.
3.7. Challenges and opportunities of actors along rosemary value chain
One of the merits of value chain analysis is that it helps to clearly identify bottlenecks to the
development of the chain right from input supply up until the consumption level in intense
way. Accordingly, a number of constraints and opportunities are explained by different
actors through focus group discussion and questionnaire. From results major constraints
which are currently hindering the development of the rosemary value chain can be
categorized accordingly to the three basic stages: the farm level, the marketing/traders stage
and consumer stage (Table 4).
Table 4: production and marketing constraints of Medicinal and Aromatic plants in selected areas of Ethiopia
Marketing constraints
|
|
Number of farmers
|
Percent
|
No problem
|
34
|
24.82
|
Lack of demand
|
5
|
3.65
|
Transportation
|
1
|
0.73
|
Low price
|
83
|
60.58
|
Cost of marketing
|
14
|
10.22
|
Total
|
137
|
100
|
Production constraints
|
No problem
|
50
|
37
|
Shortage of land
|
26
|
19
|
Variety related problem (poor)
|
2
|
1
|
Disease and pest occurrence
|
9
|
7
|
Weather fluctuation
|
2
|
1
|
Transportation
|
1
|
1
|
lack of post harvesting tech
|
2
|
1
|
Lack of seedling
|
1
|
1
|
lack of production know how
|
16
|
12
|
Source: Survey data, 2018
At the farm-level, key production constraints faced by farmers are the shortage of land, limited knowledge on the production know how and diseases and pest attacks in their order of importance. Concerning market constraints, about 60.6% of sampled farmers reported problem of low price followed by cost of marketing (Table 4). This will fear producers to not expand Aromatic and medicinal plants production and marketing.
Rosemary farmers suffer from poor post-harvest handling techniques, leading to significant losses, which affect returns to the farmer and traders. Furthermore, farmers in Sebeta Awas woreda do not have good drying and storage facilities available at the farm level, and this forces them to sell their fresh product immediately after harvest. On the other hand, producers reported disease and pest attacks as the major problems in the selected districts. Sampled farmers also reported that they were not well trained on pest and diseases control measure on their rosemary cultivation.