Bedasa Terefa, Sena Amsalu, Nigusu Abera, Bogale Belay
A Small-ruminants play a significant role in the livelihood systems of rural Ethiopia, providing food, skin and wool, manure, and a significant amount of income. They also help businesses manage the risk of crop failure and provide asset wealth security, which allows them to save money and fulfill social and cultural roles. In this work, we investigate the significant social and productive variables that support the hedonic values of sheep and goat characteristics among Small-ruminant farmers in Ethiopia Based on revealed preferences, this study calculates the hedonic costs of characteristics seen in sheep and goats. The factors influencing the observed prices of sheep and goats are investigated using a hedonic pricing model. Transaction data came from the Oromia north Shewa Zone›s markets. Two groups of respondents were used in this study: market vendors and buyers of sheep and goats. A total of 360 transactions involving sheep and goats were surveyed for the hedonic analysis. A hedonic pricing model was fitted in order to identify the hedonic characteristics (traits) that are most impacting the implicit prices of sheep and goats. Both heteroscedasticity and OLS Regression analysis that was consistent was used for comparison. The empirical hedonic model›s results consistently show that the phenotypic characteristics of traded sheep and goats have a greater influence on price determination than the characteristics of buyers and sellers or other variables. The age of the buyer, the age of the animal, the medium and large body sizes, the excellent body condition, the extremely fat tails, the season of sale (holiday), and the colour (red) were the sheep qualities that had the greatest influence on the prices paid in the examined marketplaces, according to the Heteroscedasticity-Consistent-3 standard errors. Conversely, the most significant factors influencing goat characteristics were age, sex, average and poor body condition, and medium and large body size. Thus, for the sustainable improvement of sheep and goats, breeding techniques and programs with a marketing component are essential, and small-ruminant farmers and consumers may profit from the intervention.