Maize commercialization level among smallholder farmers in northern Sidama, Ethiopia

Abstract The transformation of Ethiopian agriculture from home-consumption farming to commercial production is the one way to help a lot of smallholder farmers get rid of poverty and food insecurity. However, the commercialization of agriculture, especially food crops, is more subsistence than cash crops, and the level of commercialization of maize remains low. The objective of this study was to assess the extent of maize commercialization and to pinpoint the factors that impede it in the northern Sidama region of Ethiopia. A multistage sampling technique was adopted to collect cross-sectional data from 424 maize-producing households. The household commercialization index (HCI) and two-limit Tobit model were used to estimate the maize commercialization level and identify its determinants, respectively. The estimation result revealed that the level of maize commercialization in the study areas was 0.22, or 22%, on average. In addition, the two-limit Tobit model result showed that the sex of the household head, land size, oxen ownership, extension contact, market information, and the amount of maize produced had significantly influenced the commercialization level of maize output. Thus, the government and stakeholders should empower women through various policy initiatives and interventions, provide adequate market information, and create favorable infrastructure (roads) and institutional setups for better market linkages.