Organizing farmers into groups has become an important tool through which government and other rural development institutions seek to solve rural poverty and household food insecurity. Using data collected from 1783 households in rural Niger, we assessed the factors influencing farmers ‘participation to group membership and the impact of collective marketing on household food security and income. The results revealed only few farmers participate to group formation (2.91%) and collective sale (4. 6%). The results show that the household size, the quantity of livestock, the farm size, contact with extension services, the possession of irrigated land and access to market influence positively and significantly the farmer’s decision to join a group. Meanwhile we employed matching techniques to assess the effect of collective marketing on household food security and income. The results indicate negative impact of collective sale on both household food security and income.

These findings are contrary to most of literatures reporting the benefits of collective sale. The study recommends restructuring of farmer’s organizations, the design strategies to improve their functioning through the capacity building of their members in management and awareness in community development to benefit from joining a group or association.