Quantity Measurement Cost and Reliability of Cereal Commodity Trade: Evidence from Ethiopia

Kidane Assefa Abebe, Deyi Zhou, Bekele Gebisa Etea, Dessalegn Anshiso Sedebo, Neway Habtemariam Muktar and Dano Endalu Olana
Additional contact information
Kidane Assefa Abebe: College of Economics and Management, Huazhong Agricultural University, No. 1 Shizishan Street, Hongshan District, Wuhan 430070, China
Deyi Zhou: College of Economics and Management, Huazhong Agricultural University, No. 1 Shizishan Street, Hongshan District, Wuhan 430070, China
Bekele Gebisa Etea: College of Economics and Management, Huazhong Agricultural University, No. 1 Shizishan Street, Hongshan District, Wuhan 430070, China
Dessalegn Anshiso Sedebo: College of Economics and Management, Huazhong Agricultural University, No. 1 Shizishan Street, Hongshan District, Wuhan 430070, China
Neway Habtemariam Muktar: School of Commerce, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa P.O. Box 3131, Ethiopia
Dano Endalu Olana: College of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ambo University, Ambo P.O. Box 19, Ethiopia

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 6, 1-25

Abstract: Measurement reliability is an undervalued aspect of local agricultural marketplace organizations. There are also gaps in identifying the extent of cereal commodity trade measurement costs. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to estimate the magnitude of cereals trade quantity measurement cost caused by instrument error and unreliability in the context of the local marketplace in Ethiopia. In this regard, a survey was conducted in six different districts’ marketplaces ( n = 602) of Oromia regional state. In addition to administered structured questionnaires, site mass measurement calibration was employed. The survey data were analysed using an independent samples t -test, one sample t -test and analysis of variance. According to the findings, the actual value measurement means of the quantity of most local units of the farmers were greater than small traders. The independent t -test result indicated that the average values of the quantity of the majority of units of measurement between farmers and small traders were varied significantly. Estimated average measurement cost of the farmers and small trader which occurred due to measuring instruments’ error and unreliability were higher for a sack, bowl and glass units compared with other units of measurement. This study demonstrates that homogeneity in measurement, market regulatory policy and institutions that aid cereals trade have an indispensable role to reduce measurement costs thereby ensure equitable exchange.

Keywords: local agricultural marketplace; cereal commodity trade; quantity measurement costs; measurement reliability; Ethiopia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/6/1521/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/6/1521/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:6:p:1521-:d:213481

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().