Endogenous rural development: evidence from a typical Greek region

The current financial and institutional crisis in Greece has brought far-reaching consequences for the whole economy including rural development. Nevertheless, farmers and rural residents can profit from the opportunities and synergies offered by other activities that are complementary and alternative to agriculture and thus they can liberate themselves from the unique role of producers. Rural residents, farmers and entrepreneurs in less favored Greek areas play an essential role in the valorization of endogenous resources of the area where they are operating. This paper aims to examine the willingness of the residents of a typical Greek region to accept and support a local factor such as a union of agricultural cooperatives and to reveal the foremost reasons thereof. To that effect, a survey of 500 rural residents was performed using both summary statistics and multivariate analysis while a categorical regression analysis was applied to determine the relation between the respondents' socioeconomic characteristics and their willingness to adopt the endogenous potential. The survey findings indicate the success of the Union investment project and the confidence of the local community in a local cooperative organization. Thus, this local business initiative can significantly reduce the impact of the economic crisis on Greek rural residents by generating additional income from indigenous resources