PERFORMANCE OF COOPERATIVES AMONG FARMERS IN GOMBE STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined the performance of farmers’ cooperatives in Dukku local government area of Gombe State, Nigeria. Simple random sampling techniques was used in selecting 72 respondents from the study area.  Data was collected using questionnaire. Sixty-three (63) questionnaires were returned and analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The result revealed that all the respondents were married, with majority (93.7%) being males. About 38.1% of the respondents fell within the age bracket of 41-50 and farming was their major occupation (77.8%), with 50.8% of the respondents having above 20 years’ experience in farming. The study further showed that 45 of the respondents, representing 71.4% identified ‘encouragement of self-help and cooperation’ as the major benefit they derived as a result of their membership in cooperatives. Socio-economic factors such as age, farm size and income were found to be significant (p˂0.05) factors influencing farmers’ access to cooperative loan. The study showed that ‘unavailability of loan to give out to members’ was the major constraint (88.9%) to loan accessibility by members of cooperatives. It was recommended that cooperative farmers be educated by extension workers on the need to pool the resources at their disposal and grant loans to members rather than wait for government loans.