Barriers to the Accountability Mechanisms of co-operative Unions on Primary Agricultural Marketing Co-operative Societies

Abstract

The co-operative unions’ role in flourishing the existence of agricultural primary cooperatives are scantly observed. This is justified by 98% of primary co-operatives with unclean reports from the account point of view. Following the Agency theory, this article explores the accountability barriers of the co-operative union to the primary agricultural co-operative societies in Tanzania. The purposive sampling technique was used to select fifteen agricultural primary co-operatives actively involved along the supply chain of coffee in three co-operative Unions. Focus group discussions were held with five board members chosen from each primary co-operative. Also, individual interviews were conducted with the co-operative union's management. The thematic content analysis was used to analyze the gathered information. The transcribed data were scrutinized into subthemes, themes, categories, and global themes and redefined into collective themes. According to the study findings, cooperative unions are hindered by several barriers in fostering accountability practices to primary co-operatives. Such barriers include delays and absence of regular meetings, low information dissemination, lack of transparency on coffee collection and marketing channels, and low access to agricultural inputs. These barriers have discouraged the primary co-operatives from cooperating with the cooperative unions. The study findings recommend active policies to reduce accountability barriers and ensure the sustained growth of the co-operative sector in Tanzania.