The Contribution of Agricultural Marketing Co-operatives in Service Provision to Members in Tanzania A Case of Moshi District

Abstract

This paper is based on the study done at Mruwia Rural Co operative Society between February to March, 2016. It intends to share and learn the contribution of cooperative enterprise towards empowering members in service provision in Tanzania. It has focused on Mruwia Rural Co-operative Society and its two joint ventures in Moshi district as cases to describe the goal of the paper. Specifically, the study aimed to; identify factors influenced members to join agricultural marketing co-operatives, determine the economic services provided by agricultural marketing co-operatives as well as exploring the social services provided by agricultural marketing co-operatives and the role played by agricultural marketing co-operatives in building members’ capacity to access services. The paper has applied a cross-sectional design and it is qualitative in nature. The study involved a sample of 60 respondents sampled purposively and data were collected through interview method. The study also used documentary review method to collect secondary data. Content and descriptive analyses were used to analyse the collected data. The study found that the motives behind formation of the co-operative enterprise include; attaining economies of scale, access to markets and farms inputs, improving bargaining power and facilitate transport of members’ produce. Furthermore, the relevance of the co-operative enterprises was found in terms of the social and economic contribution in which these co-operatives provide services to members and the way they get satisfied. The paper ends by recommending various areas for improvement, which aims to restructure and transform the co-operative enterprise as a business entity aiming to improve member services and productivity.