Analyses of markets and value chains for chickpea in Ethiopia

This paper examines the chickpea market chain in Ethiopia, examining weaknesses and imperfections, and suggesting some solutions to fix the system.

The paper underscores that there are many challenges associated with developing market opportunities and profitable value chains for chickpea, including:

• the need to secure a consistent supply of chickpea grain that meets the requirements and makes chickpea production economically viable to smallholder producers
• the need to improve market linkages
• the need to boost chickpea production by using existing technologies.

The paper states that existing marketing systems in the country do not always value quality properly, especially at the lower end of the value chain. In addition, the study also finds inadequate vertical and horizontal linkages among chickpea market participants, and limited access to information and credit, which altogether reduces the efficiency of the marketing system.

The paper proposes the following recommendations:

• collaborative efforts are required to introduce appropriate technologies and market information systems that improve productivity and help to meet quality and quantity requirements
• establishing quality-based marketing systems that create self-enforcing incentives for producers to supply high quality produce should be in place
• there is a need for increased participation of the private sectors in strengthening business support services to traders along the value chain
• the strength of market linkages between farmers and traders operating at the upper end of the value chain needs to be enhanced through better market linkages and development of mutually beneficial contractual arrangements
• there is a need for institutional innovations to reduce transaction costs through better coordination of marketing activities of smallholder farmers and increased exchange of information along the value chain.