Impact of Rural Infrastructure on smallholder Output Market Participation in South West Ethiopia:

Abstract

AbstractsThe objective of this study was analyzing the impact of rural infrastructure on smallholderfarmer decision to participate in output market in Jimma Zone. By using multi-stage samplingmethod, the primary data was collected from a total of 397 through structured questionnaires.Heckman two-stage selection model was employed to analyze data collected from sampledhousehold. The significance of coefficient of inverse Mill’s ratio ( ) indicates the presence ofselection bias and the effectiveness of applying Heckman two stage model. The results of thestudy show that smallholder participation in output market were positively influenced by farmsize, sex, education, oxen, road infrastructure, telecommunication and electric servicesaccessibility, access to extension and accessibility of credit. On the other hand, size of familyand distance to market place discourage probability of farmer market participation decision.Moreover, in the second stage; sex, education, farm size, amount of crop produced, roadinfrastructure, telecommunication and electric services, access to extension, accessibility ofcredit and access to information increase the intensification of farmers market participation.The policy that geared towards providing rural infrastructure for rural community is believed toenhance the level and intensity of smallholder’s farmer output market participation.