What determines the price of Bonga sheep at the market level in Southwestern Ethiopia? A Hedonic Price Analysis

Abstract

Bonga sheep is a mutton type breed with long-fat-tail and higher body weight at maturity. The breed is mainly located in Kaffa, Bench-Majji and Sheka zones of the southwestern mid and highland land areas of Ethiopia. Currently, the breed was well known in Ethiopia and also its price is higher as compared to other breeds in the country. However, empirical evidence is lacking on price determinants of the breed in Ethiopia. Therefore, this research was attempted to analyze the factors that determine the market prices of Bonga sheep in southwestern Ethiopia. Data from 300 traded sheep and sheep marketers were collected from five major sheep marketing centers in the Kaffa zone. The hedonic pricing models adjusted for heteroscedasticity were employed to analyze the collected data. The analysis result confirmed that the attributes of the sheep were the important guiding criteria in price formulation. The result also showed that the attributes of the sheep like age, sex, colour, body condition, tail type and presence of horn as well as types of buyers, market place and season were the significant determinants of sheep price. Therefore, targeting in systematic selection the attributes demanded by the market and establishment of community-based selection breeding program in Kaffa and neighboring zones to make sheep improvement sustainable and sheep keepers benefit from the intervention. Besides, effort should be geared to transform the system into a market-oriented system using a value chain framework by improving linkages to markets, access to market information systems.