Identifying obstacles to the establishment and development of rural cooperatives in Gilan province

A B S T R A C T
Development in rural areas depends on various factors due to facing many economic, social, and environmental problems; one of the most important factors is the development of cooperatives, which can be synchronized with the government's policies in improving life, production, providing services, raising the level of income. and the social status of the village people to play an effective role. Therefore, in the present research, the obstacles to establishing and developing rural cooperatives in Gilan province were identified. According to the latest statistics, Gilan province has 937 cooperatives in rural areas, which are scattered in only one-third of the villages of the province. The current research method is qualitative and based on the integration of the grounded theory method and the seven-step metacombination method of Sandelowski, Barroso, and Willis, which was carried out using MAXQDA software. The results of the present research, which were obtained by conducting interviews with 120 beneficiaries, including 8 experts, 18 experts from the General Department of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare in the capital of the province and other cities, 64 officials and members of rural cooperatives, 30 from The villagers of different cities and also 9 cases related to rural cooperatives of Gilan province have been obtained; it shows that the five core categories of institutional-management, economic, social-cultural, awareness and laws are the most important obstacles, respectively.
Extended Abstract
Introduction
The experience of developed countries shows that cooperatives are the best organizations that have managed to provide the means for the gathering of scattered and disparate forces, at the same time, talented and motivated. On the other hand, extensive studies have proven that cooperatives can contribute to rural development by increasing the efficiency of resources, facilitating the access of villagers to wider markets, forming the clamp of the value chain and the participation of all sections of villagers, including women, to achieve sustainable rural livelihoods and resilience.  Cooperatives are considered to be the most organized rural institution. Its main operators are the people living in the village as a spontaneous and independent institution from the government sector. As a people's institution, they play a large role in the comprehensive development of villages. Rural cooperatives are people's institutions that, while having the characteristics of an economic unit, also have social values and norms and can reflect the group efforts of the cooperative members to achieve common goals and development. According to the stated necessity, the present research seeks to identify the obstacles to establishing and developing rural cooperatives in Gilan province.
 
Methodology
At first, the basic method was used to discover the obstacles to the creation and development of rural cooperatives and their pathology. In this study, according to the research problem, the interview technique (face-to-face, virtual, and telephone) was used to collect data. The statistical population and beneficiaries of rural cooperatives (academic experts, experts of cooperative offices, members of rural cooperatives, and villagers) were selected by snowball sampling method, and theoretical saturation was achieved by conducting interviews with 120 beneficiaries. Finally, the data collected from the interviews with the four groups mentioned above were entered into the MAXQDA software and were carefully reviewed several times. Next, in order to use the past research, a qualitative method based on the seven-step meta-combination method of  Sandelowski, Voils, and Barroso was used.
 
Results and discussion
In open coding, sentences or concepts related to obstacles were extracted and coded in the form of 410 items; of course, after combining the same codes, a total of 261 codes with different frequencies were identified. Therefore, similar concepts were coded in the form of identical codes. The results of the review of the relevant data in the form of open coding and the results of the open coding were categorized based on thematic inclusion, and broad classes were developed and presented in the form of axial coding. The result indicated that the five core categories of awareness, laws, socio-cultural, economic, and managerial institutions are the most critical obstacles to developing rural cooperatives in Gilan province. Examining the texts from the interview with the sample community in the MAXQDA software revealed that one of the most important issues mentioned is the economic topic, which has broad categories such as facilities, price, inflation, marketing, advertising, branding, etc.
Among the other issues mentioned by the experts is the social core category, which is categorized into 9 broad categories. The most important issue in the social and cultural field is the discussion of cooperation. However, at the top of all the listed obstacles, there is an institutional and management obstacle that has been the concern of many experts, and many codes and broad categories are included in this nuclear category. Experts have emphasized improper management and planning at the macro and micro levels. In line with the mentioned problems, there is also the discussion of laws and regulations, the most important of which are the rapid changes in the laws and the difficult process of granting licenses. Under this core category, we can mention two laws that can hinder the creation and development of rural cooperatives. Despite all these obstacles, it is necessary to have a complete understanding of village cooperatives to be used as a basis for planning. This issue is also one of the weaknesses of rural cooperatives. Unfortunately, the country has no consultation, awareness, training, or information about cooperatives, their benefits, legal processes, etc. The absence of this field, in addition to the weakness in the studies related to rural cooperatives, both in the fundamental and applied aspects, has caused rural cooperatives to remain at a very weak level in the country's macro economy.
 
Conclusion
The results show that the five core categories of awareness, laws, socio-cultural, economic, and managerial institutions are the most important obstacles to creating and developing rural cooperatives in Gilan province. In the institutional-management category, the most critical issue is proper planning at different levels. The existence of a tasteful, showy, and slogan-like view of the development of cooperatives has caused proper development for cooperatives in the whole country and, of course, in Gilan province. The presence of centralized planning and the lack of real participation of people in decision-making are the reasons for the non-implementation of the plans due to their non-compliance with the social realities of the villages of Gilan province. In the economic category, as mentioned, one of the most important issues is the banking facility, which many beneficiaries pointed out as not benefiting the villagers. It is necessary to mention that, of course, these facilities are necessary for the villagers, and it is their right. However, during the interviews, especially with the members of the cooperatives and the villagers, this issue was repeatedly mentioned as the only advantage of the cooperatives. In such a way, many cooperatives see cooperatives, work, and social welfare offices as banks that can pay their loans quickly and without problems. From this issue, the entanglement of the same categories can be inferred because if there is proper awareness and training and real planning and management at all levels, the benefits of cooperatives should grow in all aspects and benefit the villagers, not just the aspect of obtaining facilities.
Funding
This article is derived from a research project in Guilan Labour and Social Welfare Cooperative.
 
Authors’ Contribution
Authors contributed equally to the conceptualization and writing of the article. All of the authors approved thecontent of the manuscript and agreed on all aspects of the work declaration of competing interest none.
 
Conflict of Interest
Authors declared no conflict of interest.
 
Acknowledgments
 We are grateful to all the scientific consultants of this paper.