Mediation of Market Intermediaries of Livestock and its Products Market Chain on Pastoralist’s Economic Status; The Case of Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

ABSTRACT 
The study focused on Livestock’s and Livestock Products Marketing effect on Pastoral Community Economic Status with mediation of market intermediaries in Ethiopia. The sample 
size is 384 samples and the selected sampling strategies are multistage, purposive, and simple 
random sampling.  Study used quantitative data analysis research approach. This study employs 
KMO, EFA, CFA, and SEM using AMOS software to investigate the underlying structure of a set 
of variables. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure confirmed the adequacy of the sample for 
factor analysis, while Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) identified key dimensions within the 
data. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) validated the factor structure, ensuring model fit and 
reliability. Subsequently, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) assessed the relationships among 
the latent variables. The results of AMOS demonstrated that the mediation of marketing 
intermediaries is essential for the sale of commodities and livestock in order to improve the 
economic status of Ethiopia's pastoralist community. These links also imply that livestock trading 
by itself (without the assistance of marketing intermediaries) would not enhance the economic 
status of the pastoralist group. Since marketing intermediates are the ones who are fully 
mediating the relationship, policy makers should concentrate on them. It implies that 
intermediaries play a critical role in the marketing process and are essential to the survival of the 
pastoral economy.