Abstract:
Bamboo market in Ethiopia is not well developed and bamboo marketing as a viable alternative for
farmers has become a very challenging issue. In the Homosha district, despite the abundant and
valuable lowland bamboo resources, the income contribution of bamboo is very low and livelihood of
smallholder farmers in the area is desperate due marketing challenges. Thus, the study was initiated to
identify and analyze factors influencing bamboo culm market supply as well as its opportunities and
challenges. Both primary and secondary data were used in this study. The primary data were collected
from 141 household heads in three villages via household survey, key informant interviews, field
observation, market assessment and stakeholder consultation workshop. The data were analyzed using
STATA13. It was found that family size ( in working age) and experience of culm selling were positively
and significantly related to quantity of bamboo bundles supplied for sale at 5% significance level,
whereas, education level, access to market information, marketing linkages and prices were positively
and significantly related to quantity of bamboo bundles supplied for sale at 1% significance level. But,
age of harvesters is significantly and negatively related to quantity of bamboo bundles supplied for sale
at 5%. In spite of high bamboo resource in Homosha district, it is declining due natural and
anthropogenic related activities. Reverse to this government and non-governmental organizations are
working on rehabilitation activities in some areas of the district. Bamboo utilization is confined to
household level and products are manufactured traditionally and there was a low local demand for
these bamboo products. Market actor lack training and is few researches conducted on bamboo
production, processing and utilization. Therefore, in addition to toughening interaction among
harvesters and buyers, spreading of relevant information and establishing bamboo product market
center and cooperatives, and engagement of relevant institutions to assist bamboo marketing, it is
encouraged to train market actors on bamboo economic benefits and marketing as well as conduct
research on production, processing, management and utilization.
