Determinants of Farmers Group Membership Satisfaction in Mbozi Distict, Tanzania: Exploring Farmers Options

The paper investigates the principle determinants of farmers satisfaction from group membership that accords selectivity models widely used in the market participation literature. In the selectivity model used, the decision to participate in the groups is seen as a sequential two-stage decision-making process due to the influence of various farmers characteristics and external factors regarding decisions before and after participation. We use the Heckman two-step analysis with fitted cross-section data of 310 sample farmers from Mbozi District to explore factors influencing farmers to participate in groups that also correlates to members satisfaction. The results of the selection regression which involved the probit analysis on the discrete decision of whether to participate in groups as the first stage are presented. The results show that agricultural-based groups, presence of agency facilitating group establishment, distance from household to group collection centre and group trust correlate with satisfaction levels. The results show a negative sign which is statistically significant at which a farmer rated the level of satisfaction as average ascertaining that as age increases lowers the probability of satisfaction with the group membership. The results also show that the likelihood of farmers to be highly satisfied with group membership is positive which increase if the group is formed with external facilitator and as distance increases away from group convening place.