Allies or Rivals? An Explorative Investigation of the Relationship between Primary Agricultural Marketing Co-operative Societies and Co-operative Unions in Tanzania

Abstract

Agricultural co-operatives had once played a key role in transforming the livelihoods of their farmer members in Tanzania. The co-operatives were vibrant both at primary and union levels. Primaries manifested high level of commitment and accountability on unions operations. However, the commitment and accountability have over time blurred leading to the separate interests and operations. This paper explores how agricultural primary co-operatives manage accountability from co-operative unions and the challenges thereto. Whether there is still a mutual relationship between the two is a question of exploration. The paper utilises data collected through focus group discussions and key informative interviews. Purposive sampling was used to choose seventy-five board members from fifteen primary coffee co-operative societies based on their active participation in transacting products and services with three co-operative unions in Kilimanjaro and Kagera, Tanzania. Thematic content analysis was used to derive the results. The findings show that the level of primaries accountability to union is contemporarily low. This is due to insufficient capacity of primary co-operative representatives, losses from unions' business investment and overhang debts, leadership inexperience, information asymmetry among co-operatives actors' and rent-seeking behaviour. These constraints are found to reducing the primary co-operatives' discretionary power of holding co-operative unions accountable in Tanzania. The recommendations are twofold: First, the primary co-operative societies should prioritise the development of a strong, high-quality and transparent co-operative institutions that allows effective member participation and decision-making. Second, the findings accentuate the need for a deliberate integration of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) with co-operatives architectures while emphasising the adherence to the co-operative principles by all co-operative actors.