Involvement in agricultural cooperative activities and improvement of living standards in rural areas: A case study of Jyambere Muhinzi wa Huye cooperative rice-growing zone.

Abstract

In Rwanda, cooperatives are relied upon because they are thought to improve operating efficiency and help improve the living standards of the population. Yet, households in Rwandan rural areas are said to be still vulnerable. The current study was carried out to investigate how involvement in rice growing activities has impacted on the improvement of households living standards of both cooperative and non-cooperative members operating in JYAMBERE MUHINZI WA HUYE Cooperative Rice-Growing Zone in Huye District. A sample of 207 respondents was randomly selected from a population of 346 rice growers. The sample comprised 175 respondents selected from 312 and 32 cooperative and non-cooperative members respectively. Data collected using a questionnaire filled in by cooperative and non-cooperative members were analyzed using SPSS and excel software. The findings indicated the extent of cooperative members’ involvement in rice growing activities is greater than that of non-cooperative members. The findings also revealed a moderate extent of improvement of households living standards among cooperative members and a low extent of improvement of households living standards among non-cooperative members. This led the conclusion that involvement in rice growing activities has helped improve the households living standards among cooperative members better than among non-members. Correlation analysis revealed that, for the case of both cooperative and non-cooperative members, a significant relationship between involvement in rice growing activities and improvement of households living standards. It was recommended, among others, that the government should through its agricultural officials, make follow-up to ensure that the best and modern rice growing practices are adequately implemented by rice growers so as to increase the yields of the exploited land.