The Impact of Geographical Distance on the Performance Evaluation of a Peruvian Cocoa Cooperative: Acopagro Cooperative Case study

In this work, the improvements that influenced the participation of the farmers in the cooperative were analyzed. A survey of 125 farmers was carried out in Juanjui using Principal Components Analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis in order to assess the underlying opinions of the cocoa farmers. The evaluation of Acopagro’s performance was negative when communities were located far from the cooperative headquarters. Alternatively, the closer the communities were to Juanjui and the more direct the relationship with the importers was, the more satisfied farmers were with the cooperative performance. Enforcement of the gatherers’ loyalty in each village is needed for farmers' competitiveness in the market.