The role of rural production cooperatives in promoting psychological empowerment of wheat farmers (Study case: west Islamabad)

Abstract: The present study is aimed to investigate the role of rural production cooperatives in promoting psychological empowerment of wheat farmers who are members in the production cooperatives in the city of west Islamabad. This study is practical in terms of purpose, and its entity is descriptive- analytical. The study population consisted of 1137 farmers which are member of the rural cooperatives in 11 villages of west Islamabad. The sample size is estimated to be 170 on the basis of Cochran formula. In order to compare the results, 170 wheat farmers who were not member in rural cooperatives were selected from the same villages. The method of data gathering is survey and the tool used in the study is a questionnaire. To determine the questions for the questionnaire, five indicators of psychological empowerment were used in the form of 35 items (i.e. self-determination, competence, worth, effectiveness and trust). The formal validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts. The study was conducted in the same area with the population of 30 and the questionnaire and the data were analyzed using the special formula of Cronbach’s alpha in the SPSS software. The reliability of the questionnaire was 0.84. According to the results of data analysis, it was shown that, among the five indicators of psychological empowerment in this study and considering the average differences between the two groups of members and non-members, it was said that there is a positive and significant relationship between membership in the production cooperatives and psychological empowerment of wheat farmers. Thus, the average of the members is 4.35 and the average of non-member wheat farmers is 3.61. The results of independent t test indicate a significant difference between the two groups. It was found that rural production cooperatives are effective tools for psychological empowerment of wheat farmers and rural development. Membership in this cooperatives provides the necessary context for the initiative, competence and intellectual personality of the members.