DETERMINANTS OF FARMERS’ PARTICIPATION IN GROUNDNUT SEED PRODUCING COOPERATIVE AND LEVEL OF THEIR PARTICIPATION IN EASTERN HARARGHE ZONE, ETHIOPIA

To increase groundnut production and farmers income using improved seed is crucial. However, few farmers were engaged in seed producing and marketing cooperative. Therefore, this research was conducted to identify the factors that determine smallholder farmers’ decision to participate and level of members’ participation in seed producing and marketing cooperative. A purposive sampling technique was employed to select local seed business project intervention Kebeles for the analysis. Jalela Bishan Babile multipurpose seed producers and marketing cooperative was selected for the study because of the existence of improved groundnut farmer based seed multiplication. A total of 131 sample respondents (71 participants and 60 non-participants) were selected by using simple random sampling method. Data were collected using structured questionnaire method. Descriptive and econometric analyses were employed to analyze the data. In the Heckman two stage model, Probit model used in the first stage and out of 12 explanatory variables that entered to the model five of them, namely experience in producing groundnut, education level, land allocated for crop production, number of livestock owned and availability of improved groundnut seed were found to significantly affect farmers decision to participate in Seed Producing and Marketing Cooperative. The second stage (OLS) was used to estimate the factors determining the extent of member farmers’ participation in Seed Producing and Marketing Cooperative. Out of 11 variables four of them were found to affect the extent of participation significantly and positively. These are family size, farmer experience, land allocated for groundnut and frequency of extension contact. The inverse Mill’s Ratio (LAMBDA) was found to be positive but insignificant. The SPMCs play an important role in narrowing of the gap between seed demand and supply reduce costs associated with access to inputs, support members and farming communities in quality seed production and dissemination of agricultural technologies. Therefore, government and development partners should support and strengthen SPMCs to maximize their success in the seed business and their contribution to improve the seed supply and thus ensure seed security.