Abstract:
Mixed crop–livestock system is a type of mixed farming that is thought to be a sustainable
agricultural system and is a primary source of livelihood in developing countries. Mixed croplivestock
farming systems make up more than 90% of the nation's agricultural production and
specifically central highland area of Ethiopia is characterized by mixed crop-livestock farming
system. While previous studies have analyzed effects of Crop diversification, implications of
mixed crop-livestock diversification for farm household welfare have received much less
attention. This study would aim to analyze status of crop –livestock diversification in the study
area, factors that affect crop-livestock diversification and the impact of diversification on
household’s welfare in Debre Elias district. Primary and secondary data were gathered through
semi interview schedule and reviewing the report of different studies. Four kebeles were selected
through lottery method of simple random sampling technique. This study used cross sectional
data that acquired from a total of 201households which were randomly and proportionately
sampled from 4 kebeles by using two-stage sampling technique. Margalef index was employed to
measure status of crop–livestock diversification index and ordered logit regression model was
used to analyze the determinants of crop-livestock diversification. Moreover, the Generalized
Propensity Score method was used to estimate the impact of crop-livestock diversification on
household welfare. Margalef index the result shown 64.9% existed in Medium and 12.44%
existed in high level of crop-livestock diversification. The study found average crop-livestock
diversification level is 0.513. Upon examining the determinants of crop-livestock diversification,
Age of household head, credit access, livestock rearing, education level show a positive influence
on the choice of CLD, whereas, land fragmentation, distance from development agent, distance
from main market center, land rent-out and farm size shows a negative relationship with the
choice of crop-livestock diversification. Result indicated that crop-livestock diversification has a
positive and significant impact on consumption expenditure of rural households. Based on the
findings, the study suggests that the government and policy makers should focus on
strengthening the provision of formal and informal education, reducing transport and
transactions costs, as well as curbing travel time to profitable markets through road network.
And also deepening credit accessibility and availability for the rural population is crucial
interventions to improve diversification as result consumption expenditure.
