When the issue of economic growth and development of the country is raised, one has to take into account the performance of the growth of smallholder farmers. Reducing the challenges they are facing and utilizing their potentials can help to accelerate the agricultural sector and economic development of the country as a whole. Agricultural cooperatives are ideal means for self-reliance, higher productivity and promotion of agricultural development. Therefore, the major concern of this study is empirically analyzing the role of agricultural multipurpose cooperatives found in the Southern Zone of Tigray Region of Ethiopia. From the five Woredas of the Southern Zone of Tigray Region Alamata and Ofla Woredas were selected at random for the study.
Both primary and secondary data were taken for this study. A three-stage random sampling procedure was adopted to select 10 primary agricultural multipurpose cooperatives and a total of 208 sample respondents at the rate of 56 from Alamata and 152 from Ofla Woreda. Primary data pertaining to the year 2006/7was collected from the selected sample respondents by using a through structured interview schedule. Of the total respondents, about 70.209% and 29.80% were participants and non-participants of the cooperatives agricultural input and output marketing respectively. Secondary data of cooperatives was also taken in to consideration to examine the performance of the input and output marketing by the cooperatives in the Alamata and Ofla Woreda.
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citation
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Mekelle university, Ethiopia, southern Tigray