This article assesses the contribution of 6 main agricultural cooperatives as an institutional organization that can contribute to reducing the overuse of agrochemical pesticides (APs). Using a multistage sampling technique, 560 producers of 6 main cooperatives were selected, based on a survey conducted from May 2020 to July 2021 in seven subdivisions of the Western Region of Cameroon. Various approaches, including the two-stage residual inclusion approach (2SRI) based on the instrumental variable, the endogenous switching Probit model (ESP) and the Endogenous Switching Regression model (ESR), were used to help solve the endogeneity problems of the cooperative membership variable. The results show that factors such as age, education, size, experience, and labour are the main factors influencing membership of a rural cooperative. The study further reveals that after joining an agricultural cooperative, the probability for a producer to reduce the overuse of (APs) is 0.46 and the net return to APs increased by 45 XAF, this implies that membership in an agricultural cooperative significantly increases the probability of reducing pesticides and improves the net return per XAF. These results highlight the importance of promoting the development of agricultural cooperatives to support green and sustainable agriculture in Cameroon.

Keywords: Agrochemical Pesticides (APs), Cameroon, Cooperative membership, Endogeneity, Rural Producers.