Effect of Access to Market Information Services on Supply of Major Vegetables: Evidence from Farm Households’ of Ambo and Toke-Kutaye Districts, West Shewa, Ethiopia

Abstract

This study aimed to examine factors influence access to market information service and quantity of vegetables marketed. A total of 150 sample households were randomly selected for an interview. Both descriptive statistics and Heckman maximum likelihood regression were used for data analysis. The descriptive statistics result revealed that 48% of sampled households were access to market information using mobile phone while 52% were not. Results of Heckman ML showed that sex, sex, dummy model farmer, and educational level increases the likelihood of access to market information using mobile phone while access to credit services decreases its likelihood. Nevertheless, land size, family size, and access to nearest market increases the likelihood of both access to market information and volume of onion and tomato supplied. The dummy use of donkey for transportation, and area of land covered by onion and tomato also increases the likelihood of the volume of onion and tomato supplied to market. Finally, the study suggested these factors to enhance smallholder’s capacity to produce vegetables that aligned to improve vegetables value chain in the study areas.

Keywords: Access to market Information, Heckman ML model, Major Vegetables, Mobile phone