Determinants of Market Participation Among Pearl Millet Farmers in Dioila Cercle, Mali

Abstract

In recent years, governmental and non-governmental organizations in Mali have given more attention to agricultural market development to meet consumers demand. This demand marks a model of mass consumption which is related to an increase of the population. Thereby, different programs have been developed to target agricultural value chains and market linkages. The main purpose of this paper was to assess the emerging marketing value chain of pearl millet in Dioila cercle among farmers. The survey was conducted in seven villages. Primary data was collected through face-to-face interviews using semi-structured questionnaires and secondary data obtained from the National Office of Trade and Competition, National Office of Market Observatory, and Organization for Consumers in Dioila. The characterization of farmers was done using descriptive statistics. To measure market participation among farmers, Heckman two-step model was used. The finding was that 212 out of 292 of sampled farmers were participating in pearl millet market. Farmers were in three groups (small, medium, and large scale) of production according to the size of land allocated to that crop and at different level of commercialization 57%, 38%, 7% respectively. Each of them was operating individually in three types of markets. Only 4.25% of participating households were female headed and 42.45% of sampled farmers’ wives were homeworkers. In addition, farmers were not receiving any kind of support for pearl millet production. Therefore, households’ quantity harvested, storage conditions, selling to regular buyers, and to wholesalers increased farmers’ likelihood to participate in market while households’ consumption and membership to cereal cooperative decreased their level of participation. Farmers were still practicing the traditional system of production, more land allocated to pearl millet production and labour for weeding were likely to increase their yield; whereas education of the farmer and labour used for land preparation adversely affected the quantity harvested.

Keywords: Heckman two-step model, pearl millet farmers, market participation