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Wollega University

College of Business and Economics

Department of cooperatives

 

TOPIC:Assessment of Factors Affecting Members’ Participation in Agricultural Cooperatives:    The Case of East Wollega Zone.

Abstract

Ethiopia for several consecutive decades has been termed as one of the poorest countries in the world. To transform this phenomenon, different strategies have been designed at different times and Cooperatives is one of such idea.  Cooperatives, as an economic enterprise and as self-help organizations, play a decisive role in uplifting the socio-economic conditions of their members and their local communities. Members, who are at the same time owners, users and workers of their own enterprise, will be directly responsible for themselves and the communities in general.  Therefore, a key for the viability and sustainability of cooperatives is vested in the hands of active participation of members. So, it is a prerequisite for a cooperative enterprise to put in place strategies that will ensure active participation of its members by identifying the underlying factors.  The purpose of this study was to investigate factors affecting member’s participation in Agricultural cooperatives in East Wollega zone. In the study quantitative approach of descriptive design has principally been employed in which random sampling method was used to collect data from cooperative members of seven selected societies. Moreover, qualitative design has accompanied the quantitative approach to triangulate the finding. By employing the primary data collection methods of questionnaires and in-depth-interviews, the study was analyzed descriptively and presented through percentages, mean and tables. A number of statements indicating the factors affecting member’s participation have been developed and the respondents were asked to express their level of agreement/disagreement with these statements on five-point Likert scale. And the finding revealed that dividend distribution, quality of leadership, production and income, awareness of members about cooperative benefit, values, principles and election systems are the greater contributing factors for members’ participation, while members past perception on cooperatives, government interference and members’ geographical accessibility to the organization were not found to be significantly affecting members’ participation in their cooperatives. Finally replication of this study using larger samples and a broader geographical coverage, longitudinal data collection and using more statistical tests is suggested for cross-validation purposes in future researches to boldly generalize and bring out major factors for members active participation in agricultural cooperatives.