Review on Barley Production and Marketing in Ethiopia

Abstract

Agriculture is the major supplier of raw materials to food processing, beverage and textile industries. It accounts for more than 85% of the labor force and 90% of the export earnings. Cereal production and marketing are the means of livelihood for millions of households in Ethiopia and is the single largest sub-sector within Ethiopia’s agriculture, far exceeding all others in terms of its share in rural employment, agricultural land use, calorie intake, and contribution to national income. Barley is the fourth most important cereal crop in the world after wheat, maize, and rice, and is among the top ten crop plants in the world .Globally, European Union, Russian Federation, Ukraine, Turkey and Canada are the top five largest world Barley producers where, On the African continent, Morocco Ethiopia, Algeria, Tunisia and south Africa were the top five largest barley producers. This study was aimed at reviewing Barley production and marketing in Ethiopia, with specific objectives of reviewing the production and productivity of Barley in Ethiopia, the importance and consumption of Barley in Ethiopia, marketing actors and margin distribution of barley in Ethiopia, the value chain actors of barley and the constraints of Barley value chain and marketing Ethiopia. The data were collected from secondary sources mainly from FAOSTAT, CSA and different published materials on barley value chain in Ethiopia. The general idea of the review shows that Ethiopia has potential for Barley production but the producer faced with lack of modern storage and high postharvest losses. On marketing side, low price of product, lack of storage and low quality of product are the major problems of the barley marketing activities. According to the study the major constraints identified as factors that affect Barley Value Chain includes: Shortage of supply of disease resistant and high yield varieties ,Weed and pest occurrence ,Low soil fertility and low soil pH,Poor soil drainage ,Frost and drought ,Diseases, such as scald, net blotch, spot blotch and rusts, Rising costs of transport ,Market price fluctuation and others. In Barley marketing, the major actors identified during the review were; farmers, traders, cooperatives and consumers while in the case of value chain the major actor’s involved were farmers, traders, cooperatives, unions, wholesalers, processors and consumers. According to the review, farmers are forced to capture a lower share of profit margin due to low price.

Keywords: Barley, production, marketing, Ethiopia