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.

摘要

赞比亚政府利用地方省级当局，对合作社作为一种接触农村地区小农的手段表现出了新的兴趣。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知之甚少。本研究的主要目的是分析成员承诺的不同水平如何决定他们的经济利益。我们从两个水稻优势区共选择了 215 名稻农（72 名主动成员和 143 名被动成员），并使用倾向评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、与合作社距离、成员对信任和接受的看法以及对合作社的投资价值对成员承诺有相当大的影响。结果进一步表明，合作社中积极投入的成员比被动成员获得了更多的经济效益。