Determinants of participation of dairy farmers in dairy cooperative societies in Manipur

The study was conducted in Manipur state to study the determinants of dairy farmers ’participation in Dairy Cooperative Societies (DCS). Four districts were selected purposively from the state and a sample of 240 milk producing households was drawn (120 members and 120 non-members). The primary data was collected on various variables and analysed using Logistic regression technique. The results of the regression showed that average annual milk production, years of farming experience and distance to market were the important variables (significant at one percent) favourably influencing a dairy farmers participation in DCS. This implies that farmers having higher average annual milk production and more experience in dairy farming are more likely to participate in DCS. Also, greater the distance to market, higher the transaction costs for the farmers which makes them favour participation in DCS located in their villages. Number of dependents and size of landholding adversely affected (significant at 10 percent) participation meaning that farmers with larger family size and also those with smaller landholding were more likely to participate in DCS.