Members’ Willingness to Invest Capital in the Agricultural Producer Unions: A Case of Samsun Province in Turkey

Abstract

The research aimed to reveal the members’ willingness toinvest capital in the Agricultural Producer Union (APU) andthe factors influencing their decisions. The main data of thestudy obtained through the surveys from 420 members ofthe APU. Members’ willingness to invest capital in theirunions and effective factors were determined usingthe Contingent Valuation Method and the Random EffectsTobit model, respectively. The research revealed that 44% ofthe union members were willing to make an averagecontribution of 355 TL to their unions. Random Effects Tobitmodel results revealed that member's trust, membership fee,participation in trainings, memberships of livestock union,apple and beekeeping, export crops through the union,attending the general assembly, level of education andagricultural experience positively affected the willingness toinvest capital, while membership of the organic hazelnut andvegetables union, gender, management experience, age andtotal income negative affected the willingness to investcapital. In order to increase members’ willingness to investcapital to their unions, members’ trusts and participations inthe training activities and administration of the unions shouldbe increased.