Open Access

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

, , ,  and   
Jul 05, 2025

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Figure 1.

Conceptual framework
Source: authors’ own study.
Conceptual framework Source: authors’ own study.

Figure 2.

Propensity score common support for extension access
Source: authors’ own study.
Propensity score common support for extension access Source: authors’ own study.

Figure 3.

Propensity score common support for cooperative membership
Source: authors’ own study.
Propensity score common support for cooperative membership Source: authors’ own study.

Figure 4.

Heterogeneity of treatment effects over the propensity score
Source: authors’ own survey.
Heterogeneity of treatment effects over the propensity score Source: authors’ own survey.

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

Variables Extension service dy/dx Cooperative membership dy/dx
Cooperative membership 0.30**(0.151) 0.00
Media access 0.99***(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 information 0.10(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)
Education 0.09***(0.022) –0.02(0.022)
Age of household 0.02**(0.008) 0.00(0.008)
Family size –0.17***(0.040) –0.10**(0.040)
Farmland size 0.05(0.094) 0.09(0.103)
Extension access 0.00 0.44***(0.157)
Constant 0.00(0.675) –3.84***(0.908)

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

Welfare measurement Outcome variable (measures of welfare) Treated (1)/untreated (0) Extension access Cooperative membership
(1/0) Potential outcome coefficient Potential outcome coefficient
Change in asset ownership Total estimated asset value Untreated = 0 21,878.14*** 33,148.87***
Treated = 1 51,320.6*** 34,555.92***
Difference (ATT) 29,442.46*** 1,407.05***
Estimated physical asset value Untreated = 0 16,991.23*** 23,620.65***
Treated = 1 38,540.44*** 27,856.51***
Difference (ATT) 21,549.21*** 4,235.86***
Estimated livestock asset value Untreated = 0 21,239.03*** 29,525.82***
Treated = 1 48,175.55*** 34,820.64***
Difference (ATT) 26,936.52*** 5,294.82***
Another estimated asset value Untreated = 0 4,247.81*** 5,905.16***
Treated = 1 9,635.11*** 6,964.13***
Difference (ATT) 5,387.30*** 1,058.96**

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

Type of mean of outcome variables Monetary value of mean measured outcome variables Mean of outcome variables based on weighted observations
Extension access Cooperative membership
Treated (j = 1) Untreated (j = 0) ATT Treated (j = 1) Untreated (j = 0) ATT
Change in asset ownership Total asset 9.83 9.50***(0.05) 0.33***(0.10) 9.64 9.50***(0.10) 0.14*(0.08)

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

Type of outcome variables Monetary value of mean measured outcome variables Mean of outcome variables based on weighted observations
Extension access Cooperative member
Treated (j = 1) Untreated (j = 0) ATT Treated (j = 1) Untreated (j = 0) ATT
Change in expenditure Annual total expenditure 11.01 10.7***(0.04) 0.31***(0.05) 10.88 10.8***(–0.05) 0.08(0.06)
Annual expenditure per adult equivalent 9.83 9.5***(0.1) 0.33***(0.1) 9.65 9.52***(0.1) 0.13*(0.01)

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

Type of mean of outcome variables Monetary value of mean measured outcome variables Mean of outcome variables based on weighted observations
Extension access Cooperative membership
Treated (j = 1) Untreated (j = 0) ATT Treated (j = 1) Untreated (j = 0) ATT
Change in ln of annual income Annual farm income 11.20 10.60***(0.05) 0.60***(0.01) 10.90 10.80***(0.01) 0.10(0.06)
Annual total income 11.38 10.90***(0.05) 0.48***(0.01) 11.20 11.10***(-0.06) 0.10(0.06)
Annual per capita income 9.42 9.15***(.04) .27*** (.04) 9.27 9.24***(.04) .04(.04)

Impact of extension access and cooperative membership on annual household expenditure

Welfare measurement Outcome variable (measures of welfare) Treated (1) and untreated (0) Extension access Cooperative membership
Potential outcome coefficient Potential outcome coefficient
Change in expenditure Annual food consumption expenditure Untreated = 0 38,392.28*** 39,794.33***
Treated = 1 49,514.95*** 44,597.12***
Difference (ATT) 11,122.67*** 4,802.79***
Annual non-food consumption expenditure Untreated = 0 9,598.07*** 9,948.581***
Treated = 1 12,378.74*** 11,149.28***
Difference (ATT) 2,780.67*** 1,200.699***
Annual total consumption expenditure Untreated = 0 47,990.35*** 49,742.91***
Treated =1 61,893.69*** 55,746.4***
Difference (ATT) 13,903.34*** 6,003.49***
Annual total expenditure per adult equivalent Untreated = 0 15,910.69*** 16,909.66***
Treated =1 21,135.59*** 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 type Outcome variable (measures of welfare) Treated (1)/untreated group (0) Extension access Cooperative membership
(with = 1, without = 0) (member = 1, non-member = 0)
Potential outcome coefficient Potential outcome coefficient
Change in annual monetary income (ETB) Annual farm income Untreated = 0 41,712.24*** 48,564.98***
Treated = 1 61,454.2*** 49,931.64***
Difference (ATT) 19,741.96*** 1,366.66***
Annual of farm income Untreated = 0 10,428.06*** 12,141.24***
Treated = 1 15,363.55*** 12,482.91***
Difference (ATT) 4,935.49*** 341.67***
Annual total income Untreated = 0 52,140.3*** 60,706.22***
Treated = 1 76,817.74*** 62,414.55***
Difference (ATT) 24,677.44*** 1,708.33***
Annual per capita income Untreated = 0 10,607.98*** 12,213.52 ***
Treated = 1 13,837.6*** 12,256.48***
Difference (ATT) 3,229.6*** 42.96***

Mean comparison of users and non-users

Household variables description N = 392 Agricultural extension service Cooperative membership
Number of treated = 171 Number of controlled = 221 ΔM Number of treated = 171 Number of controlled = 221 ΔM
Annual food expenditure (ETB) 42,410.7 48,561.7 37,651.4 10,910.4*** 45,996.5 39,206.0 6,790.5**
Annual non-food expenditure (ETB) 10,602.7 12,140.4 9,412.8 2,727.6*** 11,499.1 9,801.5 1,697.6**
Annual total expenditure (ETB) 53,013.4 60,702.2 47,064.2 13,637.9*** 57,495.7 49,007.5 8,488.0**
Total expenditure PAE (ETB) 17,816.2 20,361.9 15,858.1 4,503.7*** 18,836.7 16,909.2 1,927.4
Annual farm income (ETB) 49,626.4 60,811.5 40,971.8 19,839.7*** 52,248.6 47,282.9 4,965.7***
Off farm income (ETB) 12,406.6 15,202.9 10,243.0 4,959.9*** 13,062.2 11,820.7 1,241.4***
Total annual income (ETB) 62,033.0 76,014.4 51,214.8 24,799.6*** 65,310.8 59,103.6 6,207.2***
Total asset in monetary value (ETB) 34,275.2 51,308.2 21,095.9 30,212.3*** 38,119.7 30,839.3 7,280.4***
Physical asset monetary value (ETB) 25,922.6 38,443.0 16,234.8 22,208.2*** 30,369.7 21,948.1 8,421.6***
Livestock asset monetary value (ETB) 32,403.2 48,053.8 20,293.5 27,760.3*** 37,962.1 27,435.1 10,526.0***
Other assets monetary value (ETB) 6,480.6 9,610.8 4,058.7 5,552.1*** 7,592.4 5,487.0 2,105.4***
Cooperative membership (1/0) 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.1** 0.5 0.4 0.1**
Mass media access (radio/TV = 1/0) 0.6 0.7 0.5 0.3*** 0.6 0.6 0.1
Agricultural extension (1/0) 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.1** 0.5 0.4 0.1**
Livestock ownership (TLU) 4.5 4.6 4.4 0.3 5.0 4.0 0.9***
Access to credit (1/0) 0.4 0.5 0.3 0.2*** 0.5 0.3 0.2 ***
Distance to market (km) 18.5 18.3 18.6 –0.4 19.9 17.2 2.8**
Market information (30 km or below far from main road of zonal town = 1/0) 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.0 0.6 0.6 0.0
Sex of household head (male = 1) 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.1** 0.9 0.9 0.0
Education of household head (years) 3.8 4.7 3.2 1.5*** 3.7 3.9 –0.2
Age of household head 49.7 50.8 48.7 2.1*** 49.1 50.2 1.1
Household family size 6.2 5.8 6.5 –0.7*** 6.0 6.4 0.4**
Adult equivalent family size 3.6 3.5 3.6 –0.1 3.5 3.6 0.1
Total farm size in (ha) 1.3 1.4 1.3 0.1 1.5 1.1 0.3***