The effect of ownership of oxen, method of cultivation and gender on crop area and yield in Oromia Region
2005
Teshome Mergia | Amare Legesse | Ian Robinson
The use of draught oxen has been the foundation of crop production in Ethiopia for generations. In the established crop farming areas of Oromia Region variable levels of oxen ownership characterize the distribution of oxen between households, communities and zones. Studies regarding the effect of oxen ownership on area cultivated conducted on data collected by CSA throughout the Region, compared for 131,980 sampled households with no ox (36%), one (23%), two (32%) and three and more (9%) oxen. Statistically significant effects indicating that cropped area increased with oxen ownership were noted in all zones, except for the two oxen and three and more oxen owners in East Hararghe Zone. The highest mean difference of the area cultivated noted was between no ox and three and more oxen groups, which was 2.42 hectares for households cultivating area of temporary crops in East Wellega. The lowest was between two oxen and three and more oxen groups, which was 0.03 hectares in East Hararghe Zone. Such expansion, in areas of fixed land frontiers, is only possible through sharecropping, renting or borrowing land. Female-headed households had statistically significant fewer oxen at region level than male-headed households, recording a mean ownership of 0.90 oxen compared to 1.30 oxen per household. Among the total sampled households in Oromia Region 47,300 households do not own an ox of which 19.7% (9,300 hh) are female-headed household and c.38,000 are male-headed. Such households, without access to oxen in the stem family, are vulnerable to the high traditional sharecropping levies. Cultivation method and gender comparisons between hand-dug and oxen-ploughed areas showed that yields of teff and maize are significantly lower for hand-dug fields for both crops. There were no significant differences between the sexes for either crop. Further studies need to be undertaken in other regions and more information connected to contract ploughing should be collected.
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