Functional Characteristics of Cooperatives from the Perspective of Social Justice: Case Study of Village Cotton Producers Cooperatives in the Department of Alibori, Benin

Producer organizations are an effective way to empower small producers. Since 2013, the 9th Uniform Act of OHADA relating to the law of Cooperative Societies initiated structural and functional changes in producer organizations area. This article aims to characterize the producer organizations encountered in the Beninese agricultural sector, through the case study of the Village Cooperatives of Cotton Producers (CVPC) selected in the 6 municipalities of the department of Alibori, nothern part of Benin Republic. Primary data were collected from 242 CVPC on socio-economic characteristics and functional characteristics relating to perceptions of social justice (distributive justice, procedural justice, and interactional justice). Multiple component analysis (MCA) was used to characterize the CVPCs surveyed. The results showed that the department of Alibori has four categories of CVPC which are; (i) -CVPCs which have low size, low distributive justice and interactional justice but high procedural justice (40.9 %) ; (ii) - CVPCs which have high size, high distributive and interactional justice and a low procedural justice (16.11 %) ; (iii) - CVPCs which have average distributive and interactional justice (18.6 %) ; and (iv) CVPC which have low interactional and distributive justice (55 %). These results suggest that CVPCs size is the main socio-economic characteristic used to differentiate CVPCs; beside the functional characteristics of perceptions of distributive justice, interactional justice, and procedural justice within CVPCs.