93. It Pays to be a Member - Cooperatives Research

January 6, 2020

From 2015- 2018 the USAID Africa Great Lakes Coffee (AGLC) support program funded ground-breaking research in Rwanda. We'd like to share the findings from this research in a series of blogs - welcome to the first one! All the publications from the project can be found on the website of the lead partner for the project, Michigan State University (MSU): CLICK HERE for publication list.

Published October 5, 2016, the paper titled "Role of Cooperatives on Adoption of Best Management Practices & Productivity in Rwanda Coffee Sector" brings an analysis that can only be accomplished with a primary dataset that is large. The dataset for this paper is from 1024 coffee farmer households randomly selected in four different coffee-growing districts: Gakenke, Rutsiro, Huye and Kirehe.

The lead author is David Ortega, a young, exciting faculty member of MSU's College of Agricultural and Natural Resources. Much of David's past work has been in China, in particular with the meat industry and safety standards. His quantitative 'ag econ' work is recognized widely and he brought the AGLC research team his unique experience and skills in experimental design for surveys.

The co-authors on the paper include: Aniseh Bro, (then a Ph.D. student, now teaches at Appalachia State University); Daniel Clay, (then professor of Community Sustainability at MSU, now consultant); Maria Claudia Lopez (professor of Community Sustainability at MSU), Alfred Bizoza (then director of IPAR in Rwanda, now a professor at the University of Rwanda); and yours truly, Ruth Ann Church, (then masters student in Community Sustainability, now working full-time in coffee with the sheepskin in hand!)