%0 Journal Article
%T Causes and Effects of Land Size Variation on SmallholderĄ¯s Farm-Income: The Case of Kombolcha District of East Hararghe, Oromia, Ethiopia
%A Abera Gemechu Doti
%J Open Access Library Journal
%V 4
%N 1
%P 1-17
%@ 2333-9721
%D 2017
%I Open Access Library
%R 10.4236/oalib.1103312
%X <div style="text-align:justify;">
	<span style="line-height:1.5;">For farmers, farmland is
a basis of their livelihood and the basic agricultural resource and is now
becoming a constraint in agricultural production. This study was carried out in
Kombolcha district of Oromia National Regional State. The specific objectives
of the study were to identify the factors affecting size of landholding and to
analyze the effects of land size variation on farm income. To address these
objectives a two-stage random sampling procedure was used to
select 5 peasant associations and 110 sample respondents from a total of 19
peasant associations found in the district. Multiple linear regression and Cobb-Douglass
production functions were used for analyzing the cause of land size variation
and effects of land size variation on farm income respectively. Accordingly,
age of the household head, agro ecology, family size and land availability in
PA were found to be the significant factors in causing variation in size of
land holding in the study area. The regression coefficients of the
Cobb-Douglass production function indicate that the size of cultivated land,
average land productivity, livestock owned and non-farm income were
statistically significant factors in explaining variation in farm income among
farmers. Therefore, there should be urgency of devising means and ways to
improve the farm income through strengthening the production of cash crops. Besides
this, productivity of land should be increased th</span><span style="line-height:1.5;">rough the introduction of high
yielding varieties of crops. And there should be strategy to create non-farm
income sources for the
smallholder farmers.</span>
</div>
%K Land Size Variation
%K Farm Income
%K Smallholder Farmers
%K Multiple Linear Regression
%K Cobb-Douglass Production Functions Kombolcha
%K Oromia
%K Ethiopia
%U http://www.oalib.com/paper/5280603