Impact of Agricultural Cooperatives: The Economic Impact of Agricultural Cooperatives on Smallholder farmers: Ethiopian Case

Agricultural cooperatives in Ethiopia are charged with the purpose of becoming market outlet for smallholder farmers. Though cooperatives are constrained by different problems, the development strategy of the country advocates the expansion of the cooperatives in rural Ethiopia for better agricultural market participation and commercialization of the smallholder agriculture. Before two and three decades, the impact of these cooperatives on the betterment of the vast majority of smallholders was trivial. Specifically, the services of these cooperatives had little impact on earning, bargaining power and commercialization of smallholders' agriculture. Therefore, in view of the current role of agricultural cooperatives in Ethiopia and the commercialization of smallholder agenda, this book shows the major economic impact of agricultural cooperatives on price, income and commercialization of smallholder agriculture.