DETERMINANTS OF CLUSTER BASED WHEAT FARMING AND ITS COMMERCIALIZATION AMONG SMALLHOLDER FARMERS (A CASE STUDY OF MITO WOREDA, SILTE ZONE)

ABSTRACT Cluster-based wheat farming and its commercialization is a crosscutting issue in Ethiopia in general and in the study area in particular. Clustering wheat production and commercialization is an alternative means of multipurpose improvement but affected by different factors, which were inconsistent by different studies. While cluster farming has been proposed as a solution to boost agricultural productivity and hence commercialization, empirical evidence on its effectiveness particularly in wheat farming remains limited, geographically uneven, and methodologically inconsistent. This study therefore fills critical gaps by expanding geographical coverage to under studied Silte Zone, providing updated empirical evidence, using a Double Hurdle Model for adoption & intensity analysis, resolving conflicting findings on key variables. Therefore, this study was conducted to examine the determinants of cluster-based wheat farming and its commercialization among smallholder farmers in the central Ethiopia, Silite Zone, and Mito Woreda. Both primary and secondary data sources were used and the primary data was collected from 330 households using multistage sampling technique. Both statistical descriptive and econometric model were employed to analyse the primary data. Using a Double Hurdle model revealed Education, access to information, and membership in informal institutions significantly increase adoption likelihood (p<0.01) while cooperative membership boosts yields by 23.8 quintals/ha. Moreover, over 70% of farmers commercialize wheat, selling 58.98% of produce on average. Cluster adopters achieve 43.55 quintals/ha versus non-adopters’ 24.95 quintals/ha, with a strong correlation (r=0.95) between cluster farming and market participation. It is concluded that emphasizing the role of knowledge dissemination, provision of adequate extension service and organizing farmers as membership significantly boosts adoption. Therefore it is recommended that policy makers and governments should integrate adult literacy classes with agricultural extension to enlarge adoption and intensity of adoption so that increase agricultural production and commercialization.