Mémoire présenté et défendu publiquement en vue de l’obtention du diplôme de Master en Economie Rurale, Sociale et Environnementale Option : Economie Rurale et Gestion des Entreprises Agroalimentaires

Abstract

Agricultural organizations play a central role as collective entities managed by farmers, aiming to defend common interests, strengthen the resilience of farms, and improve household living conditions. The overall objective of this research is to evaluate the factors influencing households' decision to join agricultural cooperatives and to analyze their effects on the living conditions of cooperative members. This is a case-control study based on data collected from households in the Rumonge commune, with a sample size of 350 households, including 149 members and 201 controls. We used two econometric models: logistic regression to determine the factors influencing membership in agricultural cooperatives and ordered logistic regression to analyze the living conditions of member households. Data processing was performed using STATA 17 software. According to the logistic regression results, factors such as agricultural productivity level, access to credit, market access, and livestock numbers influence membership in agricultural cooperatives at the 1% significance level (p-value <0.001), while the age of the head of household, gender, and household size negatively influence membership. To analyze the effects on living conditions, we focused on variables explaining these conditions, such as food security, and conducted a comparative analysis. Regarding the ordered logit model, membership in agricultural cooperatives, agricultural productivity level, annual income, and livestock numbers are factors explaining the food security of rural households; therefore, members of agricultural cooperatives have a higher consumption score than non-members in the borderline and acceptable categories. Furthermore, the results of the descriptive analysis reveal that, on average, members of agricultural cooperatives generate approximately 1,742,282 Fbu higher annual incomes than non-members. Members have decent housing and easy access to basic healthcare, while there is no significant difference between members and non-members in terms of children's education and access to drinking water. Improving innovation and training in agricultural techniques, as well as public and private intervention to finance rural communities, is crucial for achieving sustainable development.