Agricultural cooperatives have generally been promoted as a vehicle for smallholder agricultural development in South Africa. A list of agricultural cooperatives was obtained from the Department of Agriculture, Limpopo Province to facilitate the process.
- Problem statement
- Objectives of the study
- Main objectives
- Specific objectives
- Hypotheses of the study
- Significance of the study
- Limitation and delimitation
- Key terms
- Outline of the study
- Conclusion
Socio-economic factors have a significant impact on the functioning of agricultural cooperatives in the study area. This chapter highlighted the general background of the study on factors affecting the proper functioning of agricultural cooperatives in the Lepelle Nkumpi Municipality of the study.
Defining cooperatives and agriculture cooperatives
According to DAFF (2012), agricultural cooperatives are organizations where many small farms work together as a business, especially to help each other produce and sell their crops. According to Bhuyan (2007), agricultural cooperatives are especially seen as important tools for creating jobs and for mobilizing resources for income generation.
History of agricultural cooperatives
- Cooperatives: international view
- Cooperatives in African countries
- Cooperatives in South Africa
The African continent has experienced a resurgence of cooperatives in the post-liberalization era after a period of decline due to structural adjustment programs (Muthuma, 2012). According to ILO (2014), cooperative development took place in the former Belgian and Portuguese possessions in Africa.
The role of agriculture cooperatives
Cooperatives are also the best intervention to achieve employment in any country in the world. Gertler (2001) indicated that cooperatives are based on the value of self-responsibility, self-help, democracy, voluntarism, universality, openness, solidarity and equality.
Factors that contribute to dysfunctional of agriculture cooperatives
According to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) (2012), small farmer cooperatives in South Africa do not have much bargaining power due to a number of reasons such as the value of assets they have, their carrying capacity - both financial and infrastructural, size of operations, lack of market information and lack of access to formal financing mechanisms in the absence of collateral. Van der Walts (2005) on a study of cooperative failure indicated that poor management, lack of training, conflicts between members and lack of funds are important factors contributing to the failure of agricultural cooperatives. Bernard (2013) on his research on rural producers and their social context indicated that a low level of financial resources available to organisations, as well as the lack of additional goods and institutions, are likely to hinder an organisation's success.
Mandleni and Anim (2014) indicated that some of the cooperatives in South Africa are dysfunctional despite the support provided by the government; failures are usually related to clash of opinions between the members, conflicts, lack of member's commitment and difficulties in managing members. Nyoro and Komo (2005) indicated that management problems for agricultural cooperatives are strongly linked to the absence of secret voting, low levels of education, lack of production and management skills training, poor marketing arrangements and consequent low returns to members as patrons or investors. The study conducted by Nyoro and Komo (2005) on the analysis of success, failure and demand factor of agricultural cooperatives in Kenya indicated that credit burden and debtors, conflicts, external forces, investment on non-income generating activities, unskilled Board members, poor or lack of communication between Board members and farmers, competition, dishonesty by staff and representatives, and fraudulent businessmen are the main contributing factors to the dysfunctional agricultural cooperatives.
Thus, even where there is a reasonable level of support for cooperatives, there are still organizational problems and a lack of marketing and production strategies. This results in poor quality of manufactured goods, leading to a lack of access to markets.
Factors that contribute to functioning of agriculture cooperatives
Poor member participation in decision-making is another factor cited in the literature as a contributing factor to dysfunctional agricultural cooperatives. It is the quality of leadership expressed at committee or board level that determines the success of the cooperative. The functioning of agricultural cooperatives largely depends on their values ​​of universality, voluntariness, self- and social responsibility, democracy and openness standards (Nugussie, 2010).
A study conducted by Prakash (2003) in the Asia Pacific region concluded that the success of agricultural cooperatives is enhanced by internal and external factors. Consequently, the success of cooperatives in Africa also depends on the interests of the people and providing relevant services to the needs of the people to attract active and effective member participation. According to IFAD (2011), the success of African agricultural cooperatives requires both local and international advisory networks to provide complementary support services that will enable them to compete with the relatively stronger private competitors.
According to Liang et al. 2015) identified social capital as one of the factors that contribute to the success of agricultural cooperatives in a research entitled "social capital, member participation and cooperative performance". Social capital is important for the operation and success of agricultural cooperatives as it limits the presence of laws and by-laws (Liang, et al., 2015).
Empirical studies on factors affecting the functioning of agricultural
Zwane and Kekana (2014), in a study on the role of extension in agricultural development in Limpopo Province, stated that cooperatives in Limpopo Province have problems because they do not operate according to the seven known principles adopted by Aliens International Cooperative in 1999. A study conducted by Mahlola (2011) on the economic impact of agricultural cooperatives on rural women in Polokwane Municipality, Limpopo Province stated that lack of access to formal education, lack of access to land and lack of financial support are factors hindering agricultural cooperatives in the province .
Conclusion
- Study area
- Population and sampling
- Data collection
- Primary data collection
- Secondary data collection
- Interviews
- Data analysis
- Variable descriptions
- Ethical consideration
The first part of the questionnaire was designed to collect demographic information about the respondent. In discriminant analysis, a linear combination of the independent variables is formed and serves as a basis for assigning cases to groups. The coefficients of the first discriminant function are derived to maximize the difference between the group means.
The greater the differences between the mean values ​​of the independent variables associated with various groups, the more discriminating is that variable. The descriptions of the dependent and independent variables in the model are presented in Table 3.1. The Eigen values ​​were used to estimate the variance of the variables, it also reveals the canonical correlation for the discriminant function.
The greater the standardized coefficient, the greater the contribution of the respective variable to the discrimination between groups. Members of cooperatives are assured of the confidentiality of information and their privacy will be respected.
- Descriptive Results
- Cooperatives classification
- Socio economic characteristics of respondents
- Marital status
- Source of income
- Years in existence of the cooperative
- Age group
- Member participation in decision making
- Training currently offered
- Frequency in meeting attendance
- Support from extension officers
- Assistance offered
- Satisfaction with assistance provided
- Satisfaction with agriculture information
- Interaction with stakeholders
- Discussions
- Satisfaction with agricultural information
- Number of female members in cooperative
- Frequency in attending meetings
- Satisfaction of the training received
- Age group
- Support from extension officers
- Members participation in decision making
- Training currently offered
- Marital status
- Source of income
- Years in existence of comparative
- Interaction with stakeholders
- Assistance offered
- Cooperative size
- Satisfaction with assistance provided
- Results from Standardized canonical discriminant function coefficients
- Test of hypotheses
- Summary
The results in table 4.10 below show that 65.7% of agricultural cooperatives offer vocational training to their members. The results in Table 4.14 above show that dysfunctional co-ops have more female than functional co-ops, as shown by the mean value of 6.61. The results in Table 4.14 show that the frequency of meeting attendance was more common in functional than in dysfunctional agricultural cooperatives.
The results in table 4.14 above show that functional cooperatives receive more training than non-functional cooperatives. The results in Table 4.14 and Table 4.15 show that the majority of cooperative members in dysfunctional cooperatives are more married than functional cooperatives. The results of the study in table 4.14 above show that dysfunctional agricultural cooperatives have more years of existence than functional agricultural cooperatives.
The results of the study in Table 4.14 above show that functional cooperatives interact with stakeholders to improve the level of their competencies of their members than dysfunctional agricultural cooperatives. The results of the survey in table 4.14 show that functional cooperatives offer assistance more than dysfunctional agricultural cooperatives. The results in table 4.14 above show that the share size is important for the functioning of agricultural cooperatives.
The results of the study in Table 4.14 above show that the majority of functional agricultural cooperatives are satisfied with the help provided as dysfunctional agricultural cooperatives.
Summary
Descriptive results showed that there are socio-economic factors that affect the functioning of agricultural cooperatives. The results of the study showed that socio-economic factors such as marital status, source of income, years of existence of the cooperative, age group and participation of members in decision-making influence the functioning of agricultural cooperatives in the municipality of Lepelle Nkumpi. The results of the group of variables used in the analysis showed that functional small cooperatives are characterized by a high level of providing training to their members; interaction with other stakeholders, satisfaction with training and assistance received.
Dysfunctional smallholder cooperatives were characterized by a high age group, low meeting attendance, a large number of members, dissatisfaction with the help and training received and a high number of women. The results of the study in Table 4.14 also indicated that most of the variables have a positive and significant effect towards the functional and dysfunctional cooperatives. The results of the discriminant analysis in Table 4.14 indicated that the most discriminating factors between functional and dysfunctional small agricultural cooperatives were the number of members in the cooperative, satisfaction with training received satisfaction with training received, number of women in cooperative, years in existence of cooperative, member participation in decision making and age group.
Conclusion
Recommendations
Food Security Programme, School of Agricultural Sciences and Agribusiness, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa: University of KwaZulu Natal. 2004) Factors affecting farmer success in the Hertzog Agricultural Cooperative in the Central Eastern Cape. An Analysis of Institutional and Technical Factors Affecting Agricultural Marketing Among Smallholder Farmers in the Kat River Valley, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.
The Chinese Cooperative Economic Review 10. 2004) Factors contributing to the poor performance of agricultural cooperatives in less developed areas. 2011). Economic Impact of Agricultural Cooperatives on Women in Rural Areas of Polokwane Municipality. Paper presented at the Alternative Cooperative and Policy Centre, Easten Cape, South Africa, June-July The Role of Agricultural Cooperatives in Agricultural Development: The Case of Menofiya Governorate, Egypt.
An analysis of the characteristics and limitations of smallholder commercial farmers in the Transkei region, the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Paper presented at the 14th ICA Japan International Training Course on “Strengthening the Management of Agricultural Cooperatives in Asia, IDACA-Japan, 18 April.
Questionnaire
These are occupations (jobs) in which there is a shortage of qualified and experienced persons, which at present or is expected in the future, either because such qualified persons are not available, or because they are available but do not meet the employment criteria.
Consent form
