Roles of Farmers’ Cooperatives in Agricultural Development In Sabuwa Local Government Area of Katsina State, Nigeria

Abstract

The cooperative movements among farmers are viewed to be instrumental to Agricultural transformation and boosting productivity in the sector. For some decades, cooperatives have been playing remarkable roles towards the growth and development of the national economy. The study aimed at assessing the farmers’ cooperative roles in Agricultural development in Sabuwa local government area Katsina State, Nigeria. The primary data was collected with the aid of structured questionnaire as a major research instrument for the study. A purposive sampling technique was employed in the selection of 60 samples among registered farmers’ cooperative members in the study area. Data was analysed by measures of central tendencies such as frequencies, mean, percentages and multiple regression techniques. The study revealed that income generation (r = 759), duration of cooperative experience (r = 681), type of agricultural activities (r = 715) and quality of leadership (r = .874) were found to be significantly correlated with the roles of the farmers’ cooperatives in agricultural development at .05 alpha value while membership enrolment in terms of population size (r = 423) was found to have a weak correlation. Based on the findings, it was recommended among other things that agricultural policy makers and economic planners should take into cognizance the morale boosters for the cooperative organizations such as lowering interest rates on granting credit facilities, empowering the farmers’ cooperatives to perform through legislative control and adopting cooperatives as an effective strategy towards socio-economic transformation of the less-privileged and disadvantaged lagging areas and by so doing, it will assist in fostering regional balance in our developmental efforts.

Keywords: Agriculture Cooperative Movement Farming Development