Does commitment to cooperatives affect the economic benefits of smallholder farmers? Evidence from rice cooperatives in the Western province of Zambia

IF 1.6 4区经济学 Q2 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS & POLICY

Agrekon Pub Date : 2021-07-29 DOI:10.1080/03031853.2021.1957692

Ebenezer Donkor, Jiri Hejkrlik

{"title":"Does commitment to cooperatives affect the economic benefits of smallholder farmers? Evidence from rice cooperatives in the Western province of Zambia","authors":"Ebenezer Donkor, Jiri Hejkrlik","doi":"10.1080/03031853.2021.1957692","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Using local provincial authorities, the government of Zambia has demonstrated renewed interest in cooperatives as a means of reaching smallholder farmers in rural areas. There exists, however, the problem of high heterogeneity within cooperatives regarding members’ commitment, with many passive members holding only formal membership and having a minimal understanding of the cooperative's principles and benefits. The main objective of this study was to analyse how varying levels of members’ commitment determine their economic benefits. We selected a total of 215 rice farmers (72 active and 143 passive members) from two rice-dominant districts and used the propensity score matching technique and endogenous treatment regression model for the analysis. The study results show that educational level, distance to the cooperative, members’ perception about trust and acceptance, and value of the investment in the cooperative have a considerable influence on member commitment. The results further indicate that actively committed members of the cooperative achieve much more economic benefits than passive members.","PeriodicalId":55541,"journal":{"name":"Agrekon","volume":"60 1","pages":"408 - 423"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6000,"publicationDate":"2021-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/03031853.2021.1957692","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Agrekon","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03031853.2021.1957692","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS & POLICY","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

ABSTRACT Using local provincial authorities, the government of Zambia has demonstrated renewed interest in cooperatives as a means of reaching smallholder farmers in rural areas. There exists, however, the problem of high heterogeneity within cooperatives regarding members’ commitment, with many passive members holding only formal membership and having a minimal understanding of the cooperative's principles and benefits. The main objective of this study was to analyse how varying levels of members’ commitment determine their economic benefits. We selected a total of 215 rice farmers (72 active and 143 passive members) from two rice-dominant districts and used the propensity score matching technique and endogenous treatment regression model for the analysis. The study results show that educational level, distance to the cooperative, members’ perception about trust and acceptance, and value of the investment in the cooperative have a considerable influence on member commitment. The results further indicate that actively committed members of the cooperative achieve much more economic benefits than passive members.

查看原文本刊更多论文

对合作社的承诺是否会影响小农户的经济利益？来自赞比亚西部省份稻米合作社的证据

摘要赞比亚政府利用地方省级当局，重新对合作社表现出了兴趣，将其作为接触农村地区小农户的一种手段。然而，合作社内部在成员承诺方面存在高度异质性的问题，许多被动成员只持有正式成员资格，对合作社的原则和利益了解甚少。这项研究的主要目的是分析不同程度的成员承诺如何决定其经济效益。我们从两个水稻优势区选择了215名稻农（72名主动和143名被动成员），并使用倾向得分匹配技术和内生处理回归模型进行分析。研究结果表明，受教育程度、与合作社的距离、成员对信任和接受的感知以及对合作社的投资价值对成员承诺有相当大的影响。研究结果进一步表明，积极参与的合作社成员比被动成员获得更多的经济利益。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Agrekon AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS & POLICY-

CiteScore

2.80

自引率

7.70%

发文量

审稿时长

>12 weeks

期刊介绍： Agrekon publishes scholarly articles that contribute to the existing literature in the domain of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics as it applies to Southern Africa. The editors of Agrekon therefore invite contributions in this context that provide new insights, either through the problems they address, the methods they employ or the theoretical and practical insights gained from the results. The quarterly journal serves as the official publication of the Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA) and is published by Taylor & Francis.