Exploring the Demand of Ethnic Afar Consumers for Locally Produced Date Palm Fruit in Afar National Regional State, Ethiopia: Evidence and Implications for Ethnic Afar Agricultural Entrepreneurship and Business Development

Exploring the Demand of Ethnic Afar Consumers for Locally Produced Date Palm Fruit in Afar National Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the nature and dynamics of the demand of ethnic
Afar consumers for locally produced date palm fruit in Ayssaita district, Afar Regional State.
Qualitative approach was employed to generate data from 14 participants by combining
purposive and convenience sampling techniques. The study revealed that socio-cultural (culture,
sub-culture, and awareness), the product factors (Stocking of date, plastic packing, accessibility
of date, and quality of date), and the market factors (Traders from different market, consumers
from different localities, and market price) were affecting each other as well as the demand of
locally produced date palm fruit. The joint and separate effects of these factors made the demand
dynamic in nature, and the dominant factors also displaced one another over time. Furthermore,
the demand itself shapes the consumption of ethnic Afar consumers. Essentially, this signified the
demise of the “Particularists' (Euro-centric) model/frameworks to capture the dynamics of the
demand of ethnic Afar consumers and the rise of the systems thinking based empirical framework.
The study also indicated that the dynamics of the demand cultivate entrepreneurial spirit on the
side of date growers/agro-pastoralists and enables them to have their own involvement in the
date (and date related) business of the region.