ABSTRACT
The study examined the Performance of Farmers’ Multipurpose Cooperative Societies (FMCS) in Enugu North Agricultural zone of Enugu State, Nigeria. Purposive and proportional sampling techniques were used to collect primary data from 30 FMCS through their chairmen. The analytical techniques involved both descriptive and inferential statistics. It was revealed that 46.7% of the cooperative had between 31 and 50 members (i.e. cooperators). About 47% of FMCS had less than N 200,000.00 annual savings from members. About 37% of the selected FMCS had between 16 and 20 years of existence (i.e. cooperative age). The greatest percentage (93.3%) of the selected FMCS was registered with the appropriate Government agency. About 43% of the FMCS had a total share of not more than N 1,000,000.00. Many of the FMCS (60%) in the study area received assistance one time or the other from government. Majority of the leaders of FMCS (73.3%) were males and 83.3% of them had formal education. It was revealed that 33.3% of the selected FMCS had good performance, 40% of them performed poorly and 26.7% of the FMCS performed moderately. The multinomial logit regression analysis comparing moderate performance as base outcome, showed that cooperative years of existence (i.e. cooperative age) , and years of formal education of the chairmen had positive and significant relationship with good/high performance at (p<0.001) and (p<0.0.05) respectively. Government assistance had negative and significant relationship with poor/low performance of the FMCS at (p<.0.05). The study also looked into the constraints hindering effective performance of FMCS in the study area. These constraints were inadequate storage facilities, inadequate capital, inadequate commitment of members, too much intervention of Government and poor management by officials among others. Therefore, any assistance inform of training and other support from government and NGOs should be based on the issue of years of existence of the FMCS and not on political affiliations as it seems to be presently for the FMCS to perform optimally in the study area.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Agriculture constitutes a significant sector of Nigeria’s economy. The sector is significant in terms of employment of labour, contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and until early 1970, agricultural exports were the main sources of foreign exchange earnings (Amaza, 2002). During the 1960’s the growth of the Nigerian economy was derived mainly from the agricultural sector. However, in more recent years, there has been a marked deterioration in the performance of Nigeria’s agriculture. The contribution of agriculture to the GDP which stood at an average of 56% in 1960 – 1964 declined to 47% in 1965, 1969 and more rapidly to 32% in 1996 – 1998 (Amaza, 2002).
Smallholder agriculture is the dominant occupation of rural Nigerians. The rural dwellers earn low income from their economic activities and as a result they save less. Low savings bring about low investment which leads to low capital formation (Umebali, 2004). Based on the foregoing, the rural dwellers are poor (Umebali, 2004). Evidence in Nigeria reveals that the number of those in poverty is on the increase. The number of those in poverty increased from 27% in 1980 to 46% in 1985. It declined slightly to 42% in 1992. In 1999, it was estimated that more than 70% of Nigerians lived in poverty (Ogwumike, 2005). Therefore, reducing rural poverty has been on the agenda of international development agencies as well as governmental and non-governmental organizations for a long time.
