Assessing the role of rural cooperatives as a way out of problems and achieving rural developmentCase study: Zanjan province

Cooperatives can be one of the most effective ways to solve rural problems, because it allows small farmers to increase their production, reduce production costs and earn more income by forming cooperatives. The present study aimed to investigate the rural production cooperatives of Zanjan province and the role of these cooperatives in solving rural problems. The research is applied in terms of purpose and analytical in terms of descriptive nature. The required data were collected using field method (questionnaire, observation and interview). The statistical population of the study is villages that have a rural cooperative company. The sample size was obtained using the Cochran's formula of 330 rural farming families. To design the questionnaire, three social indicators in the form of 18 indicators, economic indicators in the form of 12 indicators and environmental indicators in the form of 13 indicators were used. The reliability of the questionnaire was obtained through Cronbach's alpha 627. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and structural equations (SEM) were used in AMOS GRAPHICS and SPSS software environment. The results of structural equation analysis showed that the economic index in rural development with an impact factor of 0.53 had the highest impact and the social index with an impact factor of 0.22 had the lowest impact in rural development. In the social index, the factor of "psychological and motivational", in the economic index, the factor of "access to services and market management" and in the environmental index, the factor of "correct human management" gained the most importance and impact on rural development for rural people.