Agriculture & Food, Volume 9, 2021

Abstract: When one raises the question of economic progress and development of developing nations, it is necessary to examine the role performed by small-scale producers and entrepreneurs, especially in countries where women play a crucial role in the informal agricultural value chain as food farmers, processors, and traders. Literatures highlighted that women entrepreneurs and farmer across sub-Saharan Africa encounter significant barriers in accessing land, credit, equipment, and market. Lessening those challenges can help increase agricultural productivity and lead to economic development. In this context, cooperatives appear as a means through which women entrepreneurs meet their socio-economic needs by maximizing benefits, reducing costs, and sharing risks. Mainly marketing cooperatives can enhance their members livelihood in both rural and urban areas while contributing to their better access to market, credit, and decision-making stances in persistent gender unequal societies. Using data collected from 200 members of marketing cooperatives in urban and peri-urban Bamako, this article aims to understand the potential of marketing cooperatives in empowering women entrepreneurs in the agribusiness sector by providing evidence from women oral accounts. The results reveal that women’s involvement in cooperatives has some positive impacts on their access to productive resources, mainly market, credit, trainings, and information in the study areas.