Agriculture Co-operative Associations, Livelihood Income and Rural Households Welfare in Osun State, Nigeria

Abstract

The prevalence of poverty among rural households in Nigeria has prompted various efforts on poverty reduction, and one way out of poverty for rural farmers is participation in cooperative associations. Therefore, this paper examined the effect of participation in agriculture cooperative associations on livelihood income and welfare of rural farmers in Osun State, Nigeria. Data were collected through multi-stage random sampling; descriptive statistics and Probit Regression Model analysis were used. It was observed that there were more male farmers (62.16%) than female (37.84%), mean age of the farmers was 37years and most (67.57%) of the farmers were married. Households size was (54.59%) for (1-5) family with 45.95% having farming experience of 11-15 years. Majority of the farmers derived their income from agricultural activities (39.46%), though the primary occupation was not farming (57.84%). Income level was (42.6%) between 60,000-80,000 Naira monthly and a larger percentage (76.33%) are active members of cooperative associations. Credit accessibility was poor with 35.14%, a contributing factor to low welfare status and poverty. The result of the Probit regression model showed that the coefficients of age, sex, years of education, level of monthly income, access to credit and size of the farm significantly affect participation in cooperation association in the study area. The coefficients of age, sex, size of the farm and access to credit were positive and significant at 1%, 5% and 10% respectively, while the coefficients of income level and level of education was negatively significant at 10%. Farmers in the study area also keep different types of livestock and domestic animals like Goat, Sheep, Fowls(poultry), Pig and Catfish as either major, alternative or additional sources of income. It is therefore recommended that cooperative societies should integrate adult education as part of their empowerment programmes so as to boost the literacy level of rural members. Also, short term loans, credit and inputs access inform of empowerment should be made available to agriculture cooperative members so as to strengthen the bond in the association and to help increase the income level of cooperative members.