Members' participation and financial performance of wheat producers' cooperative societies in southern Ethiopias

Abstract

Currently, cooperative enterprises in Ethiopia are growing in terms of numbers and membership. However, despite growing policy attention and researchers‟ interest on cooperatives, the issue of members‟ participation, in relation to performance of cooperatives has not been adequately addressed. The overall objective of this study was to determine the influence members‟ participation in their cooperative financial performance of cooperatives. The study used a cross-sectional research design. Questionnaires and key informant interview checklist were used for data collection. The study covered 371 members from 27 primary cooperatives. Participation attitudes were assessed using likert- scale items, while members‟ evaluative perceptions about their cooperatives performance were measured by using five score scale measurement. Multiple linear regression were employed to analyze the relationship between participation and financial performance of wheat growers‟ cooperatives. The study results show that majority of respondents have positive attitude of participation in their cooperatives. Years in membership, number of shares, quantity of seed purchased and quantity of wheat supplied were statistically significant relationship with performance. Overall, on average members evaluated their societies‟ functioning as good performance. Majority of respondents agreed that they are better off in the market after joining cooperatives. It is recommended that since members‟ attitude and behavior of participation is affected by the level of information and education, launching of a continuous cooperative extension education is critical. Strengthening those participation aspects having influence on the financial performances. The good performance of agricultural inputs provision service should be considered as best practice of lesson and internal strength. Cooperatives should be able encouraging members to supply more quality produce to their cooperatives by giving them tangible benefits in price reward and patronage dividend. The study indicates issues for further study such as how to address the financial capacity limitation of primary cooperatives and how to explore and implement tri-modal arrangement in the form of public-cooperative-private partnership model. Key words: cooperatives, members, participation, performance