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The Economics of Targeting and Sustaining a Niche Market: A Case Study of Green Pod Chickpea Marketing in Ethiopia

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/11158/
http://dx.doi.org/10.7176/JESD/10-9-07
10.7176/JESD/10-9-07
 
Title The Economics of Targeting and Sustaining a Niche Market: A Case Study of Green Pod Chickpea Marketing in Ethiopia
 
Creator Zewde, Y W
Fikre, A
 
Subject Agricultural Marketing
Chickpea
African Agriculture
Ethiopia
 
Description Ethiopia is a leading producer of chickpea in Sub-Saharan Africa and the crop plays substantial role in household
food and nutrition security, soil fertility restoration and national export earnings. Recent market studies show that
farmers often sell chickpea in grain form and it reaches the final consumer through complex and long supply
channels involving various market actors. However, Green Pod Chickpea (GPCP) marketing is a recently evolving
phenomenon as a niche market, and there has been a considerable boost in its supply over the past five years. The
objective of this paper is to critically examine the main driving forces behind GPCP marketing and assess whether
it is a viable and sustainable option for smallholder farmers. Despite the relevance of multilayer evidences, the
research and development efforts to understand, evaluate and support GPCP marketing scheme are very much
limited—the issue has not received the attention it deserves. Farmers are still relying on old varieties with very
minimal extension support and the degree to which the niche market would be able to absorb the growing number
of aspiring GPCP market participants is still unclear. In nutshell, there is limited information and knowledge about
the size and characteristics of GPCP market. To the best of our understanding, this study is the first of its kind to
critically examine the viability of GPCP marketing scheme, and we hope that the findings could help bridge the
knowledge gap, provide policy inputs and serve as reference for further studies in the area. To answer the research
questions, we have collected data from chickpea producers, extension workers and market actors, and the data has
been analyzed using descriptive and econometric methods. The findings clearly show that GPCP marketing is
variety-specific: the market strongly favors the localized black and improved Marye varieties mainly due to their
taste. To make GPCP buying decision, market actors such as consumer and vendors consider certain crop
parameters and attributes including, pod color, pod size, freshness, neatness, pods per plant, variety (Desi or Kabuli)
etc. As the multiple regression results show, proximity to market, gender, livelihood status, family size, harvesting
and post-harvesting costs, grain and GPCP price gap, and access to finance are the main factors affecting the
amount of GPCP traded. Some farmers sell GPCP out of necessity motivated by cash deficit, whereas others are
highly market-oriented and put effort to exploit the niche market led by profit maximization. The structure and
functioning of GPCP market is quite different from that of grain market: it is less complex and involves few
intermediaries with short supply chain. To widen market base, availing more GPCP products options and value
addition efforts (cleaning, peeling, cooking, roasting, packaging, and labeling) could be crucial entry points.
Besides, the research and extension system should address the concerns of GPCP producers and engage them
during variety release, training provision and capacity building sessions. To shade more light on the scalability
and future prospect of such marketing scheme, further studies pertinent to its structure and functioning are vital.
At policy level, mainstreaming it into the food and nutrition product stream could have paramount importance.
 
Date 2019-05
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/11158/1/47972-51563-1-PB.pdf
Zewde, Y W and Fikre, A (2019) The Economics of Targeting and Sustaining a Niche Market: A Case Study of Green Pod Chickpea Marketing in Ethiopia. Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development, 10 (9). pp. 40-52. ISSN 2222-1700