Factors Affecting Success of Agricultural Marketing Cooperatives

Abstract

The main purpose underlying this study is to investigate factors involved in the success of agricultural marketing cooperatives (AMCs) from member’s perspective in Becho Woreda, South West Shoa, Oromia Region. For the sake of achieving the objectives of this study, the study utilized cross-sectional survey and responses were elicited from two hundred twenty (220) respondents who were drawn from the target population using two-stage random sampling procedure. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 10 officers’ and cooperative leaders of AMCs. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistical tools. Besides, the qualitative data collected were analyzed using descriptive narrations through concurrent triangulation strategy. The empirical study identified six major factors for the success of AMCs which include: member participation factor, member commitment factor, structural factor, communication factor, managerial factor, external factor. The results showed that, participation in cooperative governance, mutual trust; membership homogeneity; communication medium; interpersonal skills and market access are the highly influential factors for the success of AMCs. The  study  has  suggested  cooperative promoter, government, and prospective members  should  prioritize those factors that  have  greater  impact  on  their  success  than  do  others i.e., commitment of members and their participation.