Impact of agricultural cooperatives on smallholders' technical efficiency: evidence from Ethiopia

Gashaw Abate, Gian Nicola Francesconi and Gian Nicola Francesconi

No 1350, Euricse Working Papers from Euricse (European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises)

Abstract: Using household survey data from Ethiopia, this paper evaluates the impact of agricultural cooperatives on smallholders technical efficiency. We utilize propensity score matching to compare the average difference in technical efficiency between cooperative farmers and similar independent farmers. The approach assumes exogenous cooperative formation and similar farm technology across households. The results show that agricultural cooperatives are effective in providing support services that significantly contribute to members technical efficiency. These results are found to be insensitive to hidden bias and consistent with the idea that agricultural cooperatives enhance members efficiency by easing access to productive inputs and facilitating extension linkages. Based on the findings, increased participation in agricultural cooperatives should further enhance efficiency gains among smallholder farmers.

Keywords: Agricultural cooperatives; smallholder farmers; technical efficiency; Ethiopia. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q12 Q13 Q16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:trn:utwpeu:1350

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