Rural Cooperatives for Poverty Alleviation in Iran

This paper provides evidence on the contribution of rural cooperatives to poverty alleviation in Iran. Rural cooperatives are certainly a major contributor to poverty alleviation in many countries. But, there are a significant number of barriers to effectively using rural cooperatives as a tool for poverty alleviation in developing countries. The result of this study found that rural residents have negative perception towards contribution of rural cooperatives for poverty alleviation. They refereed to the dependency of rural cooperatives to government and lack of cultural capacity for group collaboration as main barriers related poverty alleviation through rural cooperatives. The finding can assist the rural developers at the local and national level for remove this problem in face of rural cooperatives for poverty alleviation. [Abrisham Aref. Rural Cooperatives for Poverty Alleviation in Iran. Life Science Journal. 2011; 8(2):38-41] (ISSN: 1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com.