EFFECTS OF WOMENS’ INVOLVEMENT IN COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES ON INCOME OF GROUNDNUT PROCESSORS IN AGRICULTURAL ZONE I AREA OF NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

The study assessed the effects of cooperative societies on women involvement in groundnut processing in Agricultural Zone I of Niger State, Nigeria using a sample of 205 groundnut processors  randomly selected using Taro Yamane formula at 5% error tolerance and 95% level  of  confidence  from  the  study  area.  Specifically,  the  study  described  the  socio- economic characteristics of respondents, assessed  their level of involvement in cooperative activities, determined their outputs and income, examined effect of cooperative societies on groundnut processing, determined benefits derived from cooperative societies, examined factors influencing women involvement in cooperative and identify constraints faced by groundnut processors. Instrument used for data collection was primarily questionnaire while data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, ordered logit regression, Kendal‟s coefficient of concordance and multiple regression. Findings indicate that mean age of respondents  was  43  years,  majorities  (88.8%)  were  married,  and  59.3%  had  formal education  and  a mean  household  size of 10  persons.  Majority had  access  to  trainings (71.2%) and mean of 12.9 processing experience years. 74.2% had access to credit which about (40%) is from cooperative societies, and (60%) purchase groundnuts from market. Majority  of  the  respondents‟ participated  in  cooperative  activities  in  which  attending meetings (96.6%) ranked first, 80.5% saved to raise share and 74.2% saved money together. More than half of respondents (56.1%) had medium level of involvement in cooperative activities with average annual income of above ₦400,000 and process groundnut into cake and oil.  Access to information (=4.65), acquisition of skills and training ( =4.39), availability of processing inputs (=4.22) are benefits derived from cooperative societies. The results of the regression indicates that age (β = -.147616, P<0.01), household size (β =.0740513, P<0.01), experience (β = .0606943, P<0.05), access to trainings (β = .919835, P<0.01), access to credit(β = . 919835, P<0.05), amount of credit  received (β = 5.91e-06, P<0.05) , labour employed (β = -.8208339, P<0.10)  and amount invested (β = 5.26e-06, P<0.01) significantly influenced the level of women involvement in cooperative societies. However, high cost of fuel wood ( =2.76), high cost of processing equipment ( =2.56), Inadequate capital (=2.49) are the major constraints experienced by omen groundnut processors. The result of Pearson correlation showed that age (r= -0.2553; ρ=0.01) and experience (r= -0.1774; ρ= 0.01) had significant relationship between and of respondents and their level of involvement in cooperative activities. The Z-test result shows significant difference in income (t= 6.6092) and output (t= 5.5721) of respondents before and after joining cooperative societies. The study recommended that alternative methods should be made available for women groundnut processors in order to reduce over-dependence on fuel wood, older women should be encouraged to join cooperative in order to increase their output and it is therefore necessary to encourage women participation through incentive supports in order to increase their level of involvement in cooperative societies.

CHAPTER ONE

1.0  INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Groundnut (Arachis hypogea) belongs to the family Fabaceae and it is also known as peanut. It is an important leguminous seed that ranks 6th among the oil seed crops and 13th among food crops of the world (International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), (2010). Apart from providing high quality edible oil, it is also an easily digestible protein and nearly half of the 13 essential vitamins and seven of the 20 essential minerals necessary for normal human growth and maintenance are found in it.  Also  it  provides  high quality fodder for livestock  (International  Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), 2010; Bello et al., 2016).  Groundnut or peanut commonly called the poor man‟s nut is an important oil seed and food crop for millions of people in the semi-arid tropics. It generates employment on the farm during cultivation and processing respectively (Shuaibu et al., 2018). In Nigeria, the leading producing States include Niger, Kano, Jigawa, Zamfara, Kebbi, Sokoto, Katsina, Kaduna, Adamawa, Yobe, Borno, Taraba, Plateau, Nasarawa, Bauchi and Gombe states (National Agricultural Extension and Research Liason Services (NAERLS), 2011).

In Nigeria, women occupy a dominant place in the socio-economic life of the nation. There is increasing realization of the essential role of women in agriculture and food production and the fact that the empowerment of women is necessary for achieving sustainable development (Shuaibu, 2015). In order to mitigate the adverse effect of poverty and contribute to the care and upkeep of members of their families, Nigerian women  are  engaged  in  a  variety of  income  earning  as  a  way of  improving  their livelihoods, and such activities include groundnut processing (Nwachukwu and Jibowo, 2000; Shuaibu, 2015). Though, there is little participation of women in groundnut

production, they are actively involved in local groundnut processing activities.  Women are said to be involved in over 95 percent of groundnut milling activities in agricultural Zone I of Niger State (Abba et al., 2011; Mohammed, 2014). Thus, to sustain their participation  in  this  enterprise,  it  is  important  that  women  are  organized  into cooperative societies, to further enhance their empowerment drive.

Empowerment has always been fundamental to the cooperative idea. It enables weaker section of the people to get together in order to achieve goals that women would not be able to achieve on their own. Agricultural cooperative societies in Nigeria perform multipurpose functions such as marketing of produce, provision of production inputs, and provision of loans amongst others.

According to International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) (2007) and Abdul (2017), cooperative is an autonomous association of persons unified voluntarily to meet common economic, social and cultural needs through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise. Abdul (2017), emphasized that rural cooperatives including groundnut processors cooperative plays important roles in mobilizing and distributing credit to the farmers, providing members with a wide range of services such as transportation of produce, product storage, input distribution and dissemination of information on modern practices in agriculture.

1.2 Statement of the  Research Problem

In spite of the seeming popularity of cooperative societies, it is generally believed that some women are unaware of the various opportunities open to them via cooperative activities. Women’s lack of access to resources is also a major stumbling block which affects their participation in existing cooperatives and setting up of new ones due to the fact that they are unable to participate in cooperatives, they are deprived from  the  benefits  that  cooperatives  and  their  support  structures  often  provide  to members such as credit, education and training, production inputs, technology and marketing outlets

The proliferation of small scale industries with cutting edge technologies is essential to ensure that these benefits are achievable but then, the use of these technologies is greatly underscored by the lack of access to these technologies particularly for the women. Studies have also shown that rural women are usually disadvantaged in their access to all factors of production and processing in spite of their involvement in farming generally (Bello et al., 2016). Oladeji and Thomas (2010) also highlighted poor electricity supply, high cost of petrol, lack of credit facilities, high purchasing price of technologies and lack of operational facilities for processing as the major constraints  faced  by  women  processors.  According  to  Wanyeki  (2003),  existing statutory and customary laws limit women‟s access to land and other types of property in most countries in Africa and about half the countries in Asia. This is indeed a source for concern for developing countries where women play active roles in production and processing as the lack of access to productive resources create grievous consequences for usage.

Despite  the  huge  benefits  that  cooperatives  can  offer  to  women  and  the  likely challenges  that  can  hinder  the  participation  of  women  in  cooperative  activities,  it appears that there still exist some gap in the effect of cooperative societies on women involvement  in  groundnut  processing  activities  as  well  as  in  challenges  faced  by women in participation in cooperative activities in Bida and Mokwa LGAs of Niger State, Nigeria.

It is against this backdrop that this study found it necessary to ask the following research questions:

i.      What are the socio-economic characteristics of women groundnut processors in the study area?

ii.      What are the levels of involvement of women groundnut processors in cooperative societies activities in the study area?

iii.      What are the factors influencing involvement of women groundnut processors in cooperative societies?

iv.      What are the outputs and income of women groundnut processors in the study area?

v.      What are the effects of cooperative societies on groundnut processing?

vi.      What are the benefits derived by women  groundnut processors participating in cooperative societies in the study area?

vii.      What are the constraints faced by women  groundnut processors in cooperative societies in the study area?

1.3 Aim and Objectives of the Study

The general objective of the study is to assess the effects of cooperative societies on women‟s  involvement  in  groundnut  processing  in  the  study  area.

 The  specific objectives of the study were to:

i.      describe the socio-economic characteristics of women groundnut processors in the study area.

ii.      assess the levels of women involvement   in cooperative societies activities in the study area.

iii.      examine the factors influencing involvement of women groundnut processors in cooperative societies.

iv.      determine the outputs and income of women groundnut processors in the study area.

v.      examine the effects of cooperative societies on groundnut processing.

vi.      determine the benefits derived by women groundnut processors participating in cooperative societies.

vii.      examine the constraints faced by women groundnut processors in cooperative societies in the study area.

1.4 Hypotheses of the Study

H01: There is no significant relationship between selected socio-economic variables of the respondents such as (age, household size, years of experience, marital status, educational  level,  credit,  extension  contact)  and  their  level  of  involvement  in cooperative societies.

H02: There is no significant difference between outputs and income from groundnut processing before and after joining cooperative societies.

1.5 Justification of the Study

Opportunities in food processing are enormous; this re-echoes the position of Ihekoronye and Uzomah (2011) who are of the opinion that food processing brings wide range of benefits to enterprising people in developing countries. This study is justified by the fact that women cooperative society is an agent of rural development as they help in empowering rural women thereby improving on their livelihood. This account for the Federal Government adaptation of the Cooperative Revitalization Programme (CRP) as one of the tools for improving agricultural sector in order to achieve the goals food security and national development (Mohammed 2014).

The findings from this study would assist the policy makers in making the appropriate policies that will increase income from groundnut processing and formulate effective strategies for rural women towards improving quality of living with specific focus on groundnut   processing.   The   results   of   socioeconomic   characteristics   of   women processors  will  provide  insight  on  socioeconomic  characteristics  and  institutional factors affecting processors‟ level of involvement in cooperative societies and this will enable the extension agents to work assiduously on how women processors can be improved upon. It is expected that findings from this study will contribute to poverty reduction by enhancing income earning opportunities for poor people through processing of groundnut. Information on factors influencing involvement of women in cooperative societies will assist the researchers to have adequate knowledge on factors influencing knowledge level thereby working on how women processors knowledge can  be  improved  upon  through  proper  enlightenment.  The  result  of  effect  of cooperative  societies  on  groundnut  processing  will  give insight  to  researchers  and policy makers on the effect of cooperative societies on groundnut processing on improved income and livelihood of processors, this will enable the extension agents reach out to women processors on the needs to involve in cooperative societies. Information on constraints mitigating level of women processors involvement in cooperative societies will assist extension agents and the researchers to understand the problems currently militating women processors in the involvement of cooperative in order to tackle them for women processors benefit.

Similarly, the finding from this research could be used as a basis for future studies by researchers and a various institution of higher learning. Generally, this study aimed to contribute to the body of knowledge that will enhance policy recommendations on effect of cooperative societies on women involvement in groundnut processing.

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