Indtroduction: Currently, Ethiopia is following an agricultural development-led industrialization strategy with a major goal of helping agriculture grow so that it can encourage growth in other sectors of the country's economy. However, it is characterized by low productivity due to technical and socioeconomic factors. To improve this problem, integration of modern technologies with improved level of efficiency becomes more crucial. Therefore, this study tries to fill the gap by investigating efficiency variations and factors affecting technical efficiency of red pepper production in North Gondar zone Amhara regional state, Ethiopia.Methods: By using multistage sampling, cross-sectional data were collected from 385 systematically selected households. Stochastic frontier Cobb-Douglas production was estimated. Result and conclusion:The results of the analysis revealed that a mean technical efficiency of red pepper was 78.80% (ranging from 16 to 94.9%). This implies that red pepper producers can reduce current level of input application by 21.2% given the existing technology level. The estimated stochastic production frontier (SPF) model also indicates that land, seed, chemical, oxen and labor are significant determinants of red pepper production level. The estimated SPF model together with the inefficiency parameters shows that age, education status, land size, land fragmentation, extension service, credit access and market information were found to statistically and significantly affect the level of TE of red pepper farmers in the study area. Hence, emphasis should be given to improve the efficiency level of those less efficient farmers by adopting the practices of relatively efficient farmers in the area so that they can be able to operate at the frontier. Specifically the concerned body should provide adult and vocational education for the farmers and create opportunities for farmers with lower technical efficiency to have experience and best practices sharing with those that scored efficiency scores close to one. which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Background: Selecting the appropriate channels to deliver farm products is not an easy task because there are various factors that affect producers to select such relevant channels. Hence, the study was aimed to investigate the factors that influence market channel choices among wheat producers in Northwestern Ethiopia. Methods: Using multistage sampling technique, 163 smallholder wheat producers were selected to collect primary data through semi-structures questionnaires. Combinations of data analysis methods such as descriptive statistics and econometrics model (multivariate probit model) were used. Result and conclusion: The study identified four major wheat market channel choices such as retailers, assemblers, consumers and wholesalers as alternatives to wheat producers to sell majority of their products. Thus, retailers who accounted for 40.49% of total sold, assemblers (39.2%), consumers (37.5%) and wholesalers (23.93%). The results of a multivariate probit model indicated that age of household, education status, credit access; livestock number, off-farm income and total land-holding size of farmers significantly affected the market channel choice decisions in one or another way. Therefore, strengthening institutions to deliver timely and appropriate credit service and training to a farmer is among the major recommendations from this study.

Background: Ethiopia is the homeland of various crops due to its diverse and suitable agro-ecological zones. As a result, smallholder farmers grow multiple crops on a small piece of land both for consumption and commercial purposes in different portions of Ethiopia, including the northwestern part of the country. However, crop diversification status and extent of farmers were not well understood. Therefore, this study examined determinants of crop diversification in a pepper-dominated smallholder farming system in northwest Ethiopia. Methods: Primary data was collected through a semi-structured interview schedule administered on 385 crop producers selected using a systematic random sampling technique. Moreover, the survey was supplemented by using secondary data, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews. Methods such as the descriptive, inferential statistics, and econometrics model were used for analyzing the data. Results: The average crop diversification index was 0.77, and most smallholder farmers (92.46%) used crop diversification as a strategy for risk reduction, nutritional improvement, consumption, and commercial needs. Moreover, the Tobit model result revealed that the status and intensity of crop diversification were significantly influenced by farmland, sex, age, land fragmentation, distance to development center, market distance, and non-/ off-farm income participation. Conclusion: Generally, most farm households used crop diversification as a norm and best strategy for minimizing risk, income source, nutritional and livelihood improvement. Therefore, crop producers, agricultural experts, the Ethiopian government, and partner organizations should give special attention to extension service, market, and infrastructure development to enhance the role of agricultural diversification for households.

In Ethiopia, teff is an important cereal crop, particularly in Dera district. It is a source of food and provides cash income for majority of smallholder farmers. To commercialize teff producers, selecting an appropriate market channel is mandatory. However, selecting an appropriate market channel is not an easy task because there are different factors that influence market outlet choices. Therefore, this study aimed to identify factors that influence teff market outlet choices. A two-stage random sampling procedure was used and a total of 154 smallholder farmers were randomly and proportionally selected to collect primary data. Multivariate probit model was employed to identify factors affecting teff market outlet choices. The result of the study shows that the probability of teff producers to choose wholesaler, retailer, consumer and cooperative market outlets was 31.82%, 35.71%, 37.01% and 16.88%, respectively. This shows that consumer was the most likely chosen market outlet while cooperative was the less likely chosen market outlet. The joint probability of farmers to choose the four market outlets is (0.1%) lower than the likely of no choosing four market outlets (19.5%). The result of multivariate probit model revealed that age of household head, land size, quantity of teff produced, lagged price of teff, family size (AE), membership of cooperatives and distance to the nearest market were found to be statistically and significantly affecting the market outlet choice behavior of teff producers. This implies that improving the production capacity of farmers and invests on rural cooperatives would help smallholder farmers to choose the rewarding market outlet. Therefore, the study suggested that improving the existing production system, farmers relying on intensive cultivation; giving better price for farmers and being membership of cooperative are important strategies to select the appropriate market channel.

Onion crop is one of the most important commercialized horticultural crops among smallholder farmers because they derive benefits such as income, source of food, health care and rural employment. In developing countries like Ethiopia, most smallholder farmers are characterized by poor market participation due to lack of market information, price volatility related to seasonality of supply, and poor performance of the vegetable market. This study has identified household level determinants of the output side commercialization decision and level of commercialization in onion crops in Fogera district of Amhara Region in Northwestern Ethiopia. A stratified random sampling technique was employed to select 150 onion producers from four sample kebeles in the study area. Both descriptive and econometric methods were used to analyze the data. Heckman's two step sample selection model was applied to analyze the determinants of the commercialization decision and level of commercialization in the onion market. The first-stage probit model estimation results revealed that age of household head, literacy status, distance to nearest urban center, access to training, onion yield, access to extension service and contract marketing affected probability of market participation. Second-stage Heckman selection estimation indicated that livestock holding, literacy status, land allotted to onion, non/off farm income, onion yield, ownership of communication device, contract marketing, agro ecology and marketing group significantly determined volume of onion supply. The results also showed that most of the factors determining decision of participation in onion farm also determine level of participation, suggesting that the two decisions were made simultaneously by onion producers. The study recommends that local and regional government strength formal and informal education, strengthening the existing onion production system, encouraging the use of labour saving technologies, improving extension system, strengthening the existing rural-telecom and rural-urban infrastructure development, and improving crop-livestock production.