Value Chain Assessment Study of Groundnut in Northwestern Ethiopia

Abstract

This value chain analysis and assessment research study has been carried out to identify the main casts and their key activities in the product flow of groundnut commodity. In Ethiopia about 40,000 ha of arable land is covered by groundnut per annum and about 70,000 tons of yields have been harvested, but the national average yield was nearly 0.8 ton/ha, still its productivity was very low. Metekel zone is one of the most groundnut growing areas in Ethiopia. In Metekel zone, the main groundnut value chain players/actors were producers (farmers and investors), traders/grain merchants, unions, truck owners, drivers and input suppliers. Service providers of groundnut value chains were Research Centers, Bureau of Agriculture (BoA), Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), Nongovernmental organizations (NGO’s), Unions, Rural saving and credit institutes and other governmental offices. This field research work has been conducted by arranged one-day focus group discussion (FGD) program venue at Pawe town. The FGD program has been comprised fifteen stakeholders brought together from three districts in Metekel zone. Before, the focus group discussion program we have interviewed respected respondents from four rural districts; Pawe, Dangure, Mandura and Dibatie by prepared checklists to assess the capacity of local organizations and the roles of groundnut value chain actors at producers and traders level. In our assessment study, results revealed that in Metekel zone 2011, 2012 and 2013 main cropping season 243.805, 308.765 and 458.640tons of groundnut yield was harvested respectively, among those products more than 76% was produced for market to get cash. The major challenges of groundnut value chain in our study areas; were productivity declining, high amount of rainfall or weather fluctuation, high weed, diseases and insect pest infestation, unavailability of production and post-harvest technologies, price slump down or market inconsistency, lack of infrastructures and so on.  During our assessment study, the linkage of groundnut value chain actors was not well organized even the products flow only in one dimension without supporting forces.