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Impact of Agricultural Extension Services Access and Cooperative Membership on Farmers’ Welfare: Evidence From Tigray, Northern Ethiopia Cover

Impact of Agricultural Extension Services Access and Cooperative Membership on Farmers’ Welfare: Evidence From Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

Open Access
|Jul 2025

Figures & Tables

Marginal effect of agricultural extension access and cooperative membership (N = 389)

VariablesExtension service dy/dxCooperative membership dy/dx
Cooperative membership0.30 ** (0.151)0.00
Media access0.99 *** (0.193)–0.27(0.200)
Total livestock unit (TLU)–0.01(0.026)0.05*(0.026)
Access to credit–0.38 * (0.197)0.70 *** (0.207)
Market distance–0.00(0.005)0.01 * (0.005)
Market information0.10(0.143)–0.04(0.143)
Gender–0.57 ** (0.237)–0.02(0.248)
Marital status–0.34 ** (0.172)0.81 *** (0.307)
Education0.09 *** (0.022)–0.02(0.022)
Age of household0.02 ** (0.008)0.00(0.008)
Family size–0.17 *** (0.040)–0.10 ** (0.040)
Farmland size0.05(0.094)0.09(0.103)
Extension access0.000.44 *** (0.157)
Constant0.00(0.675)–3.84 *** (0.908)

Impact of extension access and cooperative membership on annual household asset ownership

Welfare measurementOutcome variable (measures of welfare)Treated (1)/untreated (0)Extension accessCooperative membership
(1/0)Potential outcome coefficientPotential outcome coefficient
Change in asset ownershipTotal estimated asset valueUntreated = 021,878.14 ***33,148.87 ***
Treated = 151,320.6 ***34,555.92 ***
Difference (ATT)29,442.46 ***1,407.05 ***
Estimated physical asset valueUntreated = 016,991.23 ***23,620.65 ***
Treated = 138,540.44 ***27,856.51 ***
Difference (ATT)21,549.21 ***4,235.86 ***
Estimated livestock asset valueUntreated = 021,239.03 ***29,525.82 ***
Treated = 148,175.55 ***34,820.64 ***
Difference (ATT)26,936.52 ***5,294.82 ***
Another estimated asset valueUntreated = 04,247.81 ***5,905.16 ***
Treated = 19,635.11 ***6,964.13 ***
Difference (ATT)5,387.30 ***1,058.96 **

Impact of agricultural extension access and cooperative membership on welfare to In of annual income (IPWRA)

Type of mean of outcome variablesMonetary value of mean measured outcome variablesMean of outcome variables based on weighted observations
Extension accessCooperative membership
Treated ( j = 1)Untreated ( j = 0)ATTTreated ( j = 1)Untreated ( j = 0)ATT
Change in ln of annual incomeAnnual farm income11.2010.60 *** (0.05)0.60 *** (0.01)10.9010.80 *** (0.01)0.10(0.06)
Annual total income11.3810.90 *** (0.05)0.48 *** (0.01)11.2011.10 *** (-0.06)0.10(0.06)
Annual per capita income9.429.15 *** (.04).27 *** (.04)9.279.24 *** (.04).04(.04)

Impact of agricultural extension access and cooperative membership on welfare to improved annual asset ownership (IPWRA)

Type of mean of outcome variablesMonetary value of mean measured outcome variablesMean of outcome variables based on weighted observations
Extension accessCooperative membership
Treated ( j = 1)Untreated ( j = 0)ATTTreated ( j = 1)Untreated ( j = 0)ATT
Change in asset ownershipTotal asset9.839.50 *** (0.05)0.33 *** (0.10)9.649.50 *** (0.10)0.14 * (0.08)

Impact of agricultural extension access and cooperative membership on annual expenditure (IPWRA)

Type of outcome variablesMonetary value of mean measured outcome variablesMean of outcome variables based on weighted observations
Extension accessCooperative member
Treated ( j = 1)Untreated ( j = 0)ATTTreated ( j = 1)Untreated ( j = 0)ATT
Change in expenditureAnnual total expenditure11.0110.7 *** (0.04)0.31 *** (0.05)10.8810.8 *** (–0.05)0.08(0.06)
Annual expenditure per adult equivalent9.839.5 *** (0.1)0.33 *** (0.1)9.659.52 *** (0.1)0.13 * (0.01)

Impact of extension access and cooperative membership on annual household expenditure

Welfare measurementOutcome variable (measures of welfare)Treated (1) and untreated (0)Extension accessCooperative membership
Potential outcome coefficientPotential outcome coefficient
Change in expenditureAnnual food consumption expenditureUntreated = 038,392.28 ***39,794.33 ***
Treated = 149,514.95 ***44,597.12 ***
Difference (ATT)11,122.67 ***4,802.79 ***
Annual non-food consumption expenditureUntreated = 09,598.07 ***9,948.581 ***
Treated = 112,378.74 ***11,149.28 ***
Difference (ATT)2,780.67 ***1,200.699 ***
Annual total consumption expenditureUntreated = 047,990.35 ***49,742.91 ***
Treated =161,893.69 ***55,746.4 ***
Difference (ATT)13,903.34 ***6,003.49 ***
Annual total expenditure per adult equivalentUntreated = 015,910.69 ***16,909.66 ***
Treated =121,135.59 ***18,738.79 ***
Difference (ATT)5,224.9 ***1,829.13 ***

Impact of extension access and cooperative membership on annual monetary income of households

Welfare measurement typeOutcome variable (measures of welfare)Treated (1)/untreated group (0)Extension accessCooperative membership
(with = 1, without = 0)(member = 1, non-member = 0)
Potential outcome coefficientPotential outcome coefficient
Change in annual monetary income (ETB)Annual farm incomeUntreated = 041,712.24 ***48,564.98 ***
Treated = 161,454.2 ***49,931.64 ***
Difference (ATT)19,741.96 ***1,366.66 ***
Annual of farm incomeUntreated = 010,428.06 ***12,141.24 ***
Treated = 115,363.55 ***12,482.91 ***
Difference (ATT)4,935.49 ***341.67 ***
Annual total incomeUntreated = 052,140.3 ***60,706.22 ***
Treated = 176,817.74 ***62,414.55 ***
Difference (ATT)24,677.44 ***1,708.33 ***
Annual per capita incomeUntreated = 010,607.98 ***12,213.52 ***
Treated = 113,837.6 ***12,256.48 ***
Difference (ATT)3,229.6 ***42.96 ***

Mean comparison of users and non-users

Household variables descriptionN = 392Agricultural extension serviceCooperative membership
Number of treated = 171Number of controlled = 221 ΔMNumber of treated = 171Number of controlled = 221 ΔM
Annual food expenditure (ETB)42,410.748,561.737,651.410,910.4 ***45,996.539,206.06,790.5 **
Annual non-food expenditure (ETB)10,602.712,140.49,412.82,727.6 ***11,499.19,801.51,697.6 **
Annual total expenditure (ETB)53,013.460,702.247,064.213,637.9 ***57,495.749,007.58,488.0 **
Total expenditure PAE (ETB)17,816.220,361.915,858.14,503.7 ***18,836.716,909.21,927.4
Annual farm income (ETB)49,626.460,811.540,971.819,839.7 ***52,248.647,282.94,965.7 ***
Off farm income (ETB)12,406.615,202.910,243.04,959.9 ***13,062.211,820.71,241.4 ***
Total annual income (ETB)62,033.076,014.451,214.824,799.6 ***65,310.859,103.66,207.2 ***
Total asset in monetary value (ETB)34,275.251,308.221,095.930,212.3 ***38,119.730,839.37,280.4 ***
Physical asset monetary value (ETB)25,922.638,443.016,234.822,208.2 ***30,369.721,948.18,421.6 ***
Livestock asset monetary value (ETB)32,403.248,053.820,293.527,760.3 ***37,962.127,435.110,526.0 ***
Other assets monetary value (ETB)6,480.69,610.84,058.75,552.1 ***7,592.45,487.02,105.4 ***
Cooperative membership (1/0)0.50.50.40.1 **0.50.40.1 **
Mass media access (radio/TV = 1/0)0.60.70.50.3 ***0.60.60.1
Agricultural extension (1/0)0.50.50.40.1 **0.50.40.1 **
Livestock ownership (TLU)4.54.64.40.35.04.00.9 ***
Access to credit (1/0)0.40.50.30.2 ***0.50.30.2 ***
Distance to market (km)18.518.318.6–0.419.917.22.8 **
Market information (30 km or below far from main road of zonal town = 1/0)0.60.60.60.00.60.60.0
Sex of household head (male = 1)0.90.90.90.1 **0.90.90.0
Education of household head (years)3.84.73.21.5 ***3.73.9–0.2
Age of household head49.750.848.72.1 ***49.150.21.1
Household family size6.25.86.5–0.7 ***6.06.40.4 **
Adult equivalent family size3.63.53.6–0.13.53.60.1
Total farm size in (ha)1.31.41.30.11.51.10.3 ***
DOI: https://doi.org/10.30858/zer/199955 | Journal eISSN: 2392-3458 | Journal ISSN: 0044-1600
Language: English
Page range: 110 - 143
Submitted on: Jul 12, 2024
Accepted on: Jan 9, 2025
Published on: Jul 5, 2025
Published by: The Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics – National Research Institute
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 4 issues per year

© 2025 ALI TEFERA, MUUZ HADUSH, KIDANEMARIAM GEBREHIWOT, ALEM HAILU, SHISHAY KAHSAY, published by The Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics – National Research Institute
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.