ABSTRACT
Sheep marketing is playing a great role in improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. Although it plays a great role, the smallholder farmers are not sufficiently participating in the sheep market so they are poor. Therefore, this study was designed to analyze the factors affecting the intensity of sheep market participation in Northern Ethiopia. The data were collected from 289 randomly selected sample households. Descriptive statistics and Poisson regression was used to analyze the identified data. The descriptive statistics revealed that the number of sheep market participants were 148 (51.21%), but the average number of sheep sold in the market was three. The Poisson regression model showed that the age of household head, education of household head, number of sheep owned, selling price of sheep, market access, distance to the nearest market, availability of grazing land, and availability of feed appeared to be significant in determining the intensity of sheep market participation significantly. The study suggested that improving the market infrastructure (market information, road construction, selling price), educational level (by providing frequent extension service/training about sheep marketing) and productivity of grazing land could enhance the intensity of sheep market participation.
