Rural and urban peoples are becoming increasingly multidimensional and mull i-local inrnpresent times and rural-urban linkages are receiving beller altention in the regional andrnlocal economic development discourse. However, Ethiopia is characterized w ith weakrnrural - urban linkage due to different factors. Moreover, there is research gap inrnthematic and spatial coverage. The main objective of this research is 10 assess thernexisting nature of rural - urban economic linkage in Hosanna town and ils hinlerland. Tornachieve the objectives, data were collected from rural and urban hous eholds, traders,rnand officers through questionnaires, interviews and observations. The gathered datarnwere analyzed using desc riptive statics frequencies, ranks and qualitative analysis.rnFindings of the study indica led difference between hinterland farmers and th eir urbanrncoun terparts to recognize and idenlify pertinent challenges that hamper to rural - urbanrnlinkage. The hinterland farmers indicated shorlage of land, subsistence agriculture, lackrnof market facilities and shortage of farm inputs as main challenges. Urban households onrnthe ot her hand identified, price fluctuation , lack of market facilities, inflation, lack ojrnagro -processing industries and subsistence na t ure of agriculture as a main challenges.rnThe study has identified weak and partial backward linkage while forward productionrnmarketing linkage is almost non -exis tent. The only linkage found relatively strong isrnconsumption linkages. The hinterlands have shown limited marketing linkages in thernsales of rural products in the town. The main products brought to the town are wheat andrnteff. In addition, finical linkage is very weak and informal financing is the most importantrnin the s tudy area. Among ten variables, shortage of land is the first problem Ihal affeclsrnagricultural production in the hinterland. Finally, it is recommended that a joint effort isrnneeded from all concerned stakeholders to mitigate the challenges in order 10 promolernmutual development in the sludy area