Assessment of Factors Affecting Farmers? Cooperatives Development: A Case of Zanzibar-Tanzania

The main objective of the study was to assess factors influencing development of farmer cooperatives in Zanzibar. Both qualitative and quantitative methods used to collect primary and secondary data from study area. The responses elicited from 135 respondents, included 105 cooperative members and 30 cooperative managers, randomly sampled from target population. Furthermore, 15 key informants purposively sampled from Department of Cooperatives and Ministry of Agriculture interviewed to clarify respondents answers. In order to identify factors influencing cooperative development, a standard multiple linear regression used to analyse and interpret data findings. The results showed that disloyalty and conflicts, product value addition, business contract and strategic planning and low level of government incentives have negatively influenced development of farmer cooperatives. While cooperative training had positively influenced development of farmer cooperatives. The study recommends regular supervision of cooperative officers, capacity building of cooperative department, provision of training and education, engagement of youth in cooperatives, and improvement of cooperative law to respond to changing global social and economic trends.