Investigating the Role of Rural Cooperatives in Reducing Rural Migration of Villagers Living in Arid Regions (Case Study: Nodooshan Villages, Yazd)

Increasing of migration from rural to urban areas threats the village, especially in arid regions. This has caused the depopulation of many villages in different parts of the country and has reduced the role of the village as a production unit. In recent years, various solutions and measures have been proposed to reverse migration from cities to villages and increase their prosperity. The formation and development of rural cooperatives are among these measures. In the present study, the role of cooperatives in reducing the migration in some villages of Nodoshan district of Meybod city in Yazd was investigated. For this purpose, a questionnaire was evaluated using statistical methods and hierarchical analysis. Indices of personal characteristics, economic factors, social factors and managerial factors were selected for research. The results of comparing the main criteria using the hierarchical method showed that among the studied factors, economic factors weighing 0.683 are the most important in the cooperative role in reducing the migration and then the management and social factors with weights of 0.200 and 0.117, respectively. The factors of buying and selling agricultural and livestock products by cooperatives and marketing of produced products with weights of 0.255 and 0.241, respectively, were more important than the criteria of economic factors. The results showed that the variables of age and level of education, as well as the history of agriculture and animal husbandry and membership in cooperatives have a positive effect on the continuation of life in the village.