The Future of Smallholder Farming in Eastern Africa - Uganda ...

7. Empirical Results
7.1. Description of Survey Findings
7.1.1. Farm Resources and Grain Production
Grain production in Ethiopia is almost entirely based on rain-fed agriculture and is
characterized by a dominant harvest (meher)—generally around November and December—
and a secondary harvest (belg)—around May and June. Of course, production cycles vary
among different agro-ecological zones. The study areas depend on meher production of cereal
crops.
Land is the major farm resource in the study areas, and it can be accessed in two ways: via
land allocations by PAs and through informal land markets. About 98 percent of the sample
households were alocated some land by their PAs.] In addition, 51 percent of the households
also acquired some of their farm plots through sharecropping or rental arrangements. Few of
the sample households (5 percent) shared or rented out their farm plots during the year
surveyed. The small proportion of farmers who shared out their land reflects the bias in the
sampling procedure toward relatively better-off farmers, who usually seek additional land. As
discussed in the methodology section, the selection of better-off farmers was deliberate
because the basic research problem, post-harvest grain loss, assumes that there is surplus
production, and therefore, surplus-producing farmers.
On average, cultivated area per household is about 2.7 hectares. This is on the high side for
the area, which perhaps reflects the importance of informal land markets. That is, since the
farmers included in this study are relatively better off, they tend to have leased in land from
resource-poor farmers. Significant variations exist among the three sites vis-à-vis the average
area allocated to production of different crops. Table 3 shows the cultivated area under major
crops included in the study during the 2002/03 main harvest period. Grains, largely wheat,
teff, and maize, take the lion’s share of total cultivated land: 65 percent in Hetosa, 47 percent
in Ada, and 75 percent in Bako.
Livestock is the other important asset owned by the sample households. The study areas are
characterized by mixed farming and almost all sample households own some livestock.
Various types of animals are reared including large and small ruminants, pack animals
(equines), and poultry. An average livestock holding, excluding poultry, is 11 animals per
household, which is equivalent to 8.5 tropical livestock units (TLU). 25 Almost every
household owns at least two milking cows and three oxen, which again reflects the relatively
better resource endowments of the sample households.
Livestock is an important source of income for the sample households. More than one-half of
the households sell either livestock or livestock products to generate cash revenue. On
average, a household generated about 460 birr from the livestock subsector in the year under
consideration 26 . Households enumerated various reasons for selling livestock and their
products; the main ones included repayment of input loans (28.1 percent of households) to
25 TLU is a standardized measure of livestock numbers. (see Abebe 2000).
26 This amount doesn’t include the revenue generated indirectly from livestock use, for instance, by renting out
draft animals to others.