CHAPTER 2........................................................................................................ 46
2.5 Discussion
59
Table 2.4 3 Demand and market price of soybean as compared to other crops in each Woreda (Percentage of the total respondents, N=166)
Woredas of the survey
Relative Demand and market price of soybean
Better Poor Similar Fluctuates Don't know
Assossa 7.8 11.4 1.2 3.0 0
Bambasi 4.2 6.0 1.8 3.0 0
Bedele 2.4 4.2 0.6 0 5.4
Chewaka 6.0 4.8 0.6 1.2 0
Darimu 3.0 7.2 1.2 6 0
Kersa 0.6 1.8 0.6 0 0
Mana 3.6 0 0.6 0 0
Omonada 1.8 3.6 0 0 0
Seka 2.4 0.6 0 0 0
Tiroafet 1.8 4.8 0.6 1.2 0
Total 33.7% 44.6% 7.2% 9.0% 5.4%
NB: Woreda is the third level administrative division (next to the federal government, regional government and zonal administration) in Ethiopia managed by local governments
60
supported by research and development to enhance the use of integrated soil fertility management practices. The reason is that crop rotation plays important in increasing yield, rotation of cereals with nitrogen fixing legumes reduces nitrogen fertilizer requirement significantly, reduces insect and disease developments (Roth, 1996). However, due to the high level of malnutrition problem in Ethiopia (Benson, 2005; Christiaensen and Alderman, 2001), especially in the rural and underage children, the role of soybean in fighting malnutrition should be first on governmental and non-governmental development programs’ agendas for scaling-up production of soybean.
Enhancing the local consumption of soybean is one of the most important strategies to improve the local market of soybean, and fight malnutrition problems, which in-turn increases farmers’ interest in soybean production. Non- governmental and aid organizations can also play an important role in enhancing the local production and consumption of soybean, which can be an alternative and sustainable way of fighting hunger and mal-nutrition to providing fortified food in developing countries. This can be achieved through strong training and popularization programs on soybean production and preparation techniques of various meals from soybean alone and in mixture with other grains (Tulu et al., 2008). The outcomes of such training and awareness creation efforts reflected in the higher proportion of households that prepare and consume soy milk (42.5%), which was unknown to farmers before the training intervention. The fact that high proportion of Bedele farmers (31.8 %) have not consumed soybean at all indicates that similar intervention around Bedele is crucial. Moreover, in areas where a limited number of meals are prepared and consumed and the proportion of respondents that has consumed soybean meals is low, such as Bambasi, Kersa, Seka and Mana (Table 4), further training on the preparation techniques and popularization of the various kinds of meals are necessary. Moreover, a high percentage of respondent farmers (74.4 %), reported that consuming soybean has no drawback, which is a very good opportunity to further scale-up the crop.
Some of the drawbacks of consuming soybean, such as lack of experience
61
preparing meals, stomach constipation, milling problems, and problems of boiling soybean, should not be underestimated, and merit attention and resources from researchers, development programs and home economists to reduce the problems.
The local market plays a very important role in stabilizing the market price of soybean, especially if the export market and consumption by large processing companies reduce. The fact that the majority of the respondents (42.9 %) did not sell the soybean they produced indicates that these farmers used their soybean produce mainly for home consumption. Besides, the majority of the buyers of soybean (18.5 %) directly consumed the produce, and the majority of the respondents sold their soybean in the local market (30.5 %) and at farm gate (18.1%), which indicates a strong demand for soybean in the local market.
It should be noted that the majority of the respondents (34.2 %) sold their soybean some 3-6 months after harvest i.e., did not sell immediately after harvest, and 41 % of the respondents believed that they sold their soybean at the right time. However, significant proportion of farmers who lacked adequate soybean market information i.e., farmers who sold their soybean immediately after harvest (13.6 %), who believe that the time of sale of their soybean is not right (41 %), and those who were not sure whether the time to sell their soybean was correct or not (11 %) need to be trained or supported by development programs on how to time their soybean sale during improved price.
Moreover, since soybean production is in-line with the Ethiopian rural development policy for its disease preventive role, especially for diseases that arise from mal-nutrition, and its role as a highly marketable export crop, due attention needs to be given for the scaling-up of soybean production by the Ethiopian government. Besides, good market price is one of the most important incentives for good crop management practice and sustainable production of soybean by smallholder farmers. However, most of the respondent farmers (44.6
62
%) rated the demand and market price of soybean compared to other crops as poor, while 33.7 % rated as better. This implies that there is much to be done to improve the market price of soybean, so as to integrate soybean in the farming system of Western Ethiopia. Local soybean crushing industries for oil and food, and grain trade organizations, such as Ethiopian Commodity Exchange, and exporters, farmers cooperatives have an important role to play to regulate soybean prices by purchasing soybean directly from farmers in the local market and at farm gate. Moreover, increasing the volume of production is very important to attract export market as importers buy in bulk. Investors will also have comparative advantage to invest in commercial soybean production in Ethiopia, and other developing Sub Saharan African countries than USA and Latin America, mainly due to cheap and abundant labor, availability of uncultivated land, and several free flowing rivers for irrigation, as well as a strategic geographic location with close proximity to major importers, namely the European Union, and Asia.