Economic Contribution of Bamboo Production and Marketing, in Case of Hula Woreda, Sidama Zone, Southern Ethiopia

Despite becoming one of Ethiopia’s fast growing and most valuable forest, bamboo’s role in livelihoods and rural development is poorly understood. Hence, the general objective was to examine economic contributions of bamboo production and marketing for livelihoods of rural households. To attain this objective, both quantitative and qualitative data from 300 households were collected through structured questionnaires, focus group discussion and key informant interviews using multi-stage sampling technique in 4 Kebeles in Hula Woreda, SNNPR, Ethiopia. Both descriptive statistical tools and binary logit regression model were used to analyze relationship between variables. Binary logit regression model was employed to find out the relationship between dependency level of households on bamboo for their livelihood and some selected socio-economic factors. According to the results, the area of land covered by bamboo has been decreasing from time to time and about 75 percent of respondents said that the area of land covered by bamboo has been decreasing. Bamboo culms and products marketing systems were informal. Bamboo producers simply display their products, mostly on road-sides, and interested buyers buy them. Information helps farmers to get better price to their product, to increase quality and quantity of the bamboo product. And only 7 percent farmers have full access for information on how to supply, where to sell and the level of demand for their bamboo products. This shows there was lack of adequate market information on the marketing of bamboo products they produce in this area. Therefore, the focus on the development of conservation and processing methods and appropriate production system and marketing can enhance the utilization of bamboo resources