The Role of Agricultural Cooperatives in Building Sustainable Livelihood for Rural Women: A Case Study of Women Members of Garagodo & Hembecho Cooperatives, Bolloso Sore Woreda, Wolaita Zone, SNNPR
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Date
2015-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The study on the Role of Agricultural Marketing Cooperative in Building Sustainable Livelihood for rural women in the case of Garagodo and Hembecho primary agricultural cooperative attempted to analyse the contribution of primary agricultural cooperative in enabling women to build sustainable livelihood which is capable of coping with and recover from vulnerability.
The main objective of the study was to assess the role of primary agricultural cooperatives in enabling women to cope with stresses and shocks through building sustainable livelihood. By using the sustainable livelihood framework adopted from DFID (199), the study tried to illustrate how the cooperatives as transforming structure enabled women to build sustainable livelihood by accessing livelihood capitals.
The study employed approximating longitudinal survey as research design. It also employed both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and analysis. The quantitative method of data collection employed survey method and the qualitative method of data collection employed in-depth interview, FGD, and observation methods. Using the methods, primary data was collected from sample members of the cooperatives, centrally placed officials from marketing and cooperative development offices and managerial bodies of the cooperative enterprises. Simple random sampling technique was employed so as to select sample respondents of the study.
The finding of the study has revealed that the cooperatives provided women with various services including supply of agricultural inputs, credit services, marketing of agricultural input and output. Access to these services in turn enabled women to improve their productivity, augment their income, and build livelihood assets which are capable of withstanding risks and shocks. Despite these benefits it yielded to women, the cooperative encountered various problems that hampered the potential benefit of women, which calls for the due attention of concerned bodies
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Sociology