Mapping the Value Chain: Key Characteristics of Ethiopia's

Abstract: Agriculture plays a central role in increasing food availability and incomes, supporting livelihoods and contributing to the overall economy and a key factor to improve food and nutrition security. This study aims at identifying the chain actors, functions and their relationships, mapping the value chain of avocado, the production and marketing constraint the farmers face in different stage face. The study was conducted by the mini research grant from African Women in Agricultural Research (AWARD) and the data was collected by Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) in major avocado producing districts in the country. Descriptive statistics such as mean, maximum, minimum, percentage and frequency were used to describe quantitative data. The information generated was summarized by tables and figures. According to the survey result the major constraints of production includes high price of input, incidence of diseases and pests, knowledge gap in production of avocado in addition to that of production constraints farmers also faces marketing constraints include, low price for the products, large number of middlemen in the marketing system, lack of marketing institutions, lack of coordination among the marketing constraints. Based on the major findings, recommendations such as organizing the traders, the government and producers to work as partners and building their business capacity and overcoming their constraints and capacitating them to use market information are drawn so the supporting organization by collaborating with the government must have to support the system.