Abstract:
About 82.43% of Rwandan population live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for
necessities and as a source of income. However, majority of those farmers are experiencing
low income for the sustenance of their households and live in poverty. To alleviate this
problem, the government of Rwanda, is implementing multifaceted poverty reduction policies
through Ministry of Agriculture in which the creation and strengthening of farmers’
cooperatives is taking place. Gatsibo District being a rural District in Eastern Province, nearly
85% of its population depend on agriculture whom, the majority are grouped in various
agricultural cooperatives but still being undermined by poverty. In line with this, the purpose
of this study was to analyze the contribution of agricultural cooperatives to farmers’
household income. The study adopted a survey research design using both quantitative and
qualitative methods of data collection and analysis. A total population sampling technique
was used in selecting the sample and employed a questionnaire guide as research instruments,
while SPSS and Excel Software was used during analysis. The study revealed that the
relationship of agricultural-based cooperative is positively associated with members’
household income in a sense that the incomes of members after joining the cooperative was
more than their incomes before and improved members’ standard of living. However,
COCUBANYA experiences challenges such as market limitations, lack of support services,
expensive inputs, small area of land to mention a few. This inferences that agricultural
cooperatives in Rwanda face quite a number of challenges which the government through
Rwanda cooperative agency should address in order to strengthen cooperatives’ performance
and their contribution to members’ household income hense contributing to poverty
eradication.
