Comparing Efficiency Between Cooperative and Non-cooperative Farms: A Case of Sugar Beet Farmers of West Azerbaijan, Iran

Abstract

Achieving a higher level of efficiency is one of the main goals of agricultural cooperatives. However, it is not clear whether the cooperative farms are more efficient than non-cooperative farms. In this line, the present study aims to compare the performance of the cooperative and non-cooperative farms by employing the super-efficiency data envelopment analysis (DEA). To this end, a survey was designed to collect data from the sugar beet farmers of West Azerbaijan province in Iran. Overall, 30 samples from cooperative farms and 29 samples from noncooperative farms were interviewed randomly. Then, the efficiency scores for both sample groups were calculated separately. Finally, the average of efficiency scores was compared by using the non-parametric approach (Mann-Whitney test). The study findings revealed that the average efficiency scores of cooperative farms are significantly higher than non-cooperatives farms. Additionally, the results emphasized the economy of scale among the cooperative farms. Overall, we found that performance of sugar beet cooperatives is substantially better than the non-cooperatives; thus, supporting the cooperatives is recommended in the study area in order to improve the efficiency.

Why Do Cooperatives Succeed? A Comparative Analysis of the Global South and North

“…A classic example of such work is Boone and Özcan's (2014) study on the comparative aspects of cooperatives and corporations in a limited manner, focusing solely on bio-ethanol cooperatives. In another study from Azerbaijan, Zamani et al (2019) claimed that the average efficiency of cooperative farms is significantly better than that of non-cooperative farms. Most of such studies are country-specific.…”

Financial structure and cooperative efficiency: A pecking‐order evidence from sugarcane farmers in Eswatini

“…The literature on farming efficiency is broadly categorized under three major strands. Under the first strand of the literature, the studies have examined how cooperative membership affect technical efficiency of smallholder farmers (Abate, Francesconi, & Getnet, 2014; Abdul‐Rahaman & Abdulai, 2018; Ma, Renwick, Yuan, & Ratna, 2018; Zamani, Mojaverian, & Nader, 2019) while the second strand examines the general drivers of technical efficiency of agricultural cooperatives (Al Mutairi, Olson, & Al Ghanim, 2018; Arcas, García, & Guzmán, 2011; Ariyaratne, Featherstone, Langemeier, & Barton, 2000; Brandano, Detotto, & Vannini, 2018; Caputo & Lynch, 1993; Featherstone & Rahman, 1996; Guzmán, Arcas, Narciso, Rino, & Sergio, 2009; Ma et al., 2018; Maietta & Sena, 2010; Mosheim, 2002; Piesse, Doyer, Thirtle, & Vink, 2005; Porter & Scully, 1987; Sexton, Wilson, & Wann, 1989; Singh, Coelli, & Fleming, 2001; Soboh, Lansink, & Van Dijk, 2012, 2014; Sueyoshi, Hasebe, Ito, Sakai, & Ozawa, 1998; Yamamoto, Kondo, & Sasaki, 2006). Most of these studies have covered farmers engaged in the production of apple, coffee, cotton, dairy, fruits and vegetables, grains, maize, wheat and wine, with few evidence of efficiency of sugar/sugarcane FCs by Ferrantino and Ferrier (1995) Patlolla, Goodhue, and Sexton (2012) in India and Ahn, Brada, and Méndez (2012) in El Savador.…”

Development of a Model for the Assessment of the Performance of Rural Producers’ Cooperatives: A Case Study of Isfahan Province, Iran

“…A main feature of this system is the wide dispersion and small size of farmlands which obviously render infeasible investments in such large-scale projects as pressurised irrigation systems or deep well excavations. So, rural producer’s cooperatives were set up to increase agricultural production of small-scale farmlands (Hadizadeh Bazaz et al 2015; Zamani et al 2019).…”