Abstract
Crop production provides food and feed; the community generates income from it to cover household expenses and savings. To improve the productivity of the sector, identification of crop production and marketing constraints in Arsi Zone is important to enhance crop production as intended in the Growth and Transformation Plan. This article aims to characterize the crop production, marketing systems and constraints so as to set proper development plans to improve food security in the future. A study was conducted in six randomly selected Peasant Associations from two randomly selected districts among 26 districts in the zone. A total of 120 farm households were selected for the study. The information collected from them was analyzed by descriptive statistics with the help of SPSS computer software. On average, farmers owned 2.645 ha of land, although there were variations from 0.25 and 9.25 ha. Barley, wheat, faba bean and field pea were the major crops, grown by 87.5, 75.8, 74.2 and 34.2% of the respondents respectively. Farmers used the crops produced mainly for family consumption and mar-keting. December to May was the peak period in which farmers sold their crop grains. District market was the main market where farmers sold their crops. Improving the timely availability of production inputs and improving credit access to farmers are important to enhance crop productivity and food security in the area. Strengthening service-providing institutions and bringing them into function through the provision of required facilities are crucial points which need consideration in the future.
Key words: Crop production, marketing, crop production constraints, food security, Ethiopia.
