Abstract:
The study on factors influencing farmers participation in Agricultural
Marketing Cooperative Societies was carried out in Njombe District. The
interest in this study has been prompted by the recognition that Agricultural
Marketing Cooperative Societies (AMCOS) are organizations that can help
poor farmers to raise their economic status, but the extent to which they join
and participate in cooperative activities is very low. Hence the general
objective was to find out what factors influence farmers participation in
AMCOS. All farmers who are members and non-members in Njombe District
were taken as the population of the study. Four societies were randomly
selected to be included in the study. A total of 120 respondents, 60 members
and 60 non-members were selected for the study. Data were collected
through questionnaire and review of societies records. Data were then
analyzed by descriptive statistics and test of independence (Chi-square) was
used. The results of the study show that, farmers join societies and continue
to be members if they can get the services, which are better than what they
can
get
from
other
sources.
This
study
found
that
there
was no relationship between members participation in AMCOS and formal
education, marital status, land distribution, and land acquisition. On the
other hand, cooperative member education, economic activity, cash crops,
markets,
prices,
and
membership fee
have
influence to
members
participation in AMCOS. Lack of members education and poor services
offered to members by AMCOS were cited as some of the problems hindering members’ participation. It is recommended that AMCOS should
improve services offered to members. Societies and the government should
emphasize cooperative education to the whole society. Likewise societies
should find ways of building their capital through contributions, which will be
used to buy crops from farmers so as to compete with private traders who
pay cash.
