Determinants of Market Participation among Smallholder Mango Producers in Assosa Zone of Benishangul Gumuz Region in Ethiopia

Commercial transformation of smallholder agriculture entails production decisions based on market signals and significant participation in output markets. Consequently, this research attempts to contribute to the understanding of smallholder commercialization of mango production and analyzing factors determining the extent of smallholders' participation in output market. The study was based on the cross-sectional data collected from 150 sample households which were randomly selected from 6 rural kebeles. Both descriptive statistics and econometric analysis were used to identify and analyze factors that determine the extent of smallholders' participation in output market. Accordingly, out of the included 16 variables, 10 were found to significantly influence the quantity of mango sold. The Tobit truncated regression model results showed that the determinant of mango volume of sale includes resources ownership (land allocated for mango and land fragmentation), households assets ownership (number of productive mango trees and mango seedling availability), access to institutions (farmers club membership), social-network (critical support from non-relatives within the village and brokers), and economic (previous income from mango sale, Income from livestock sale, and mango market price) are the significant determinants of mango market participation. Given the current high market demand for Assosa mango, there is a room to enhance the level of mango commercialization, thereby enhancing mango market participation. To improve quantity of mango sold policies and development, endeavors must target at improving household resource endowment, creating market linkage and synergy among mango value-chain actors, and strengthening the existing mango nursery sites and infra-structure.