Opportunities and Challenges in Marketing of Agricultural Inputs and Outputs: The Case of Damot Farmers’ Cooperative Union, Amhara Region

Abstract

Cooperatives, as economic enterprises and as self-help organizations, play a meaningful role in uplifting the socio-economic conditions of their members and their local communities. MPCSs  improve  farmers'  access  to agricultural  inputs  and  market  agricultural  outputs  and  increase  their  bargaining  power. This research conducted on opportunities and challenges of marketing of agricultural inputs and outputs in Damot Farmers’ cooperative union, Amhara region, Ethiopia. The main objectives were to investigate the opportunities and challenges in marketing agricultural inputs and outputs, in the case of Damot farmers’ cooperative union, Amhara Region. To accomplish this study both primary and secondary sources of data were used. Moreover, multi-stage sampling technique was employed at five-stage to select Bure Wereda, 6 MPCSs and 140 sample respondents on basis of systematic random sampling technique. Structured interview schedule used to collect primary data from famer members. And, data analysis carried out using descriptive statistics like frequency, mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum values employed using SPSS software version 20 to investigate factors that determine the volume of agricultural input and output marketing and possible opportunities and challenges of cooperative societies. The results of performance of MPCSs were also presented organizing into two categories such as functional and financial performances. Volume of agricultural input and output marketing were used as key factors to analyze cooperatives’ performance and opportunities and challenges in agricultural input/output marketing in the study area. Improving members awareness, providing training and education for members,  hiring professional management, increasing the financial power of cooperatives through sales of shares and running profitable business, developing vertical and horizontal integration of cooperatives and application of experience sharing among cooperatives  were some of the intervention areas need to be considered by concerned stakeholders in the study area to improve the agricultural input and output marketing of cooperative societies.

Keywords: Agricultural cooperatives, Agricultural inputs and outputs

DOI: 10.7176/DCS/9-3-04

Publication date:March 31^st 2019