Abstract |
Agriculture is the livelihood of the overwhelming majority of Ethiopians. It is the source of food and cash for those who are engaged in the sector and others. Most agricultural holders acquire the food they consume and the cash they need to cover other expenses only from farming activities. Since farming in Ethiopia is often precarious and usually at the mercy of nature, it is invariably an arduous struggle for the holders to make ends meet. This, it often transpires, is true to the frequent shortfalls in the volume of production that occur in the country. It is often said that what most Ethiopian agricultural holders produce is only enough to live, hand to mouth. This would be better said if it was statistically substantiated. There is plenty of information on the volume of crops produced within the private peasant holdings. But there is hardly any information on how the peasants utilize the crops and livestock products they produce which will be indicative of the fact whether the holders have enough or little to sell in order to meet other expenses of living. Data on crop and livestock product utilization were collected in the 2009/10 (2002 E.C.) Agricultural Sample Survey. Thus, for use in the sample survey taking, crop and livestock product utilization was defined as the amount of agricultural produce used for own consumption, sale, seed, wages in kind, animal feed and other purposes. In light of this information gap, the CSA has collected some data on how holders use their agricultural produce in the agricultural year to provide some information on the subject. The data were collected by interviewing the holders. They were asked to quantify their yearly crop and livestock product utilization experience in percent based on common practice. |