Role of Cooperatives in Rural Poverty Reduction in Famenin Township

This was an applied research aiming to study the role of cooperatives in reducing rural poverty. The area of study was Famenin district in Hamedan province and the population included all the members of three kinds of rural cooperatives i.e. agriculture, servicing, and industrial cooperatives. The studied sample group consisted of 130 members of the cooperatives in the study area. In addition to a deep documentary review, the main instrument for collecting necessary data and information from the field was a questionnaire that its validity was confirmed by a panel of experts. Also, its reliability was gained using Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α= 0/88). For analysis of the collected data SPSS22 software was used to analyze Coeffient variance and factor analysis in order to classify factors affecting from people’s participation in cooperative activities. Results showed that members’ participation had increased the amount of household saving, increased responsibility, improved village infrastructure, increased budget, accessed to educational and health availabilities, and reduced poverty in the study area.