In Ethiopia, cooperation among smallholder famers’ is a key element for managing and harvesting of agricultural crops and woodlot production. Despite the growing expansion and interest in eucalyptus woodlot production, not much has been done to characterize the type, form and level of cooperation among the smallholder farmers. Thus, this study analyses smallholder farmers’ cooperation on eucalyptus woodlot production in Wegera district, northern Ethiopia. Data collection involved focus group discussions, field observations, key informant interviews and semi-structured questionnaires administered to 120 producers selected using a systematic random sampling technique in three purposively selected kebeles (rural villages). A combination of data analysis methods, including descriptive statistics and econometric analysis (binary probit model), were used to analyze the data. The study revealed that two types of cooperation, informal and formal were identified and the level of cooperation was high since most smallholder farmers (80.8%) were found to participate in one or both of these systems. Further, the binary probit model shows that age (p = 0.007), family size (p = 0.026), membership status (p = 0.001), total livestock number (p = 0.011), woodlot size (p = 0.039), and working preference status of producers (p = 0.064) were significant variables in determining eucalyptus owners, decisions to cooperate. Informal cooperation constitutes an essential element in the production of eucalyptus woodlots especially in those activities like nursery preparation, transplanting, hoeing, harvesting and transporting. Based on the findings, formalization of informal institutions, execution of cluster planting to improve social relations and to settle eucalyptus related land use conflicts, and provide capacity building training to increase the level of awareness and use of cooperation benefits among producers are recommended.

中文翻译：

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埃塞俄比亚北部韦格拉地区小桉树林地生产中的小农合作

在埃塞俄比亚，小农户农民之间的合作是管理和收获农作物及林地生产的关键要素。尽管人们对桉树林的生产有了越来越大的兴趣，但在描述小农户之间的合作的类型，形式和水平方面却做得很少。因此，本研究分析了埃塞俄比亚北部韦格拉（Wegera）地区小农户在桉木林地生产方面的合作。数据收集涉及焦点小组讨论，实地观察，关键知情人访谈和半结构化问卷，这些问卷针对使用系统性随机抽样技术选出的120个生产者，在三个有意选择的地方（农村）进行了筛选。数据分析方法的组合，包括描述统计和计量经济分析（二进制概率模型），被用来分析数据。该研究表明，确定了两种类型的合作，非正式合作和正式合作，合作水平很高，因为发现大多数小农户（80.8％）都参加了其中一种或两种系统。此外，二进制概率模型显示年龄（p  = 0.007），家庭规模（p  = 0.026），成员身份（p  = 0.001），牲畜总数（p  = 0.011），林地大小（p  = 0.039）和生产者的工作偏好状态（p = 0.064）是确定桉树所有者，合作决定的重要变量。非正式合作是尤加利松林生产中的重要组成部分，特别是在苗圃准备，移植，割，收割和运输等活动中。根据调查结果，建议建立非正式机构，进行集群种植，以改善社会关系并解决与桉树相关的土地使用冲突，并提供能力建设培训，以提高生产者之间的认识水平和合作收益的利用。