Determinants of Small Ruminant Market Participation and Marketing Surplus in Tahtay Adyabo District, Tigray Region, Ethiopia

The aim of this study was to analyze the factors that determine farmers’ participation in small ruminant marketing and marketed surplus in the study area; Tahtay Adyabo District, Tigray, Ethiopia. The data were collected from a randomly selected 138 sample households. Heckman two-step method was used to identify factors affecting farmers’ participation decision in small ruminant marketing and quantity marketed in the study area. Of the total sample respondents, 76.8% and 23.2% were participated and not-participated to the small ruminant market, respectively. The result indicated that small ruminant market participation decision significantly affected by experience in small ruminant production, access to market information, family size, non/off farm income, access to veterinary services, distances to the nearest livestock market, distances to all weather roads and other livestock owned. The quantity of small ruminant supplied to the market significantly affected by experience in small ruminant production, access to credit, access to veterinary service, non/off farm income, distance to all weather roads and distance to the nearest livestock market. Therefore, development interventions should help small ruminant producers on improving the accessibility of formal financial systems, provision of timely and adequate veterinary services, developing the skills of producers and improving infrastructure.