Call for Papers : Volume 11, Issue 03, March 2024, Open Access; Impact Factor; Peer Reviewed Journal; Fast Publication

Assessment of the factors influencing the perfomance of agricultural cooperatives in gatsibo district, rwanda

The general objective of the present study was to assess the factors influencing the performance of agricultural cooperative members in Gatsibo District Rwanda. The study was conducted in 5 sectors of Gatsibo district and the population comprised of 244 registered agricultural cooperative members. The specific objectives of the study were to: examine the status of agricultural cooperative movement in Gatsibo district, and to assess the factors associated with agricultural cooperative performance. The researcher used questionnaire, interview guide desk review and documentation to collect data from cooperative 71 cooperative members selected randomly from five agricultural cooperatives. The researcher used correlation and regression techniques together with the statistical package for social science (SPSS) and STATA to analyze and interpret data finding of the model Y = β0 + β1X1 + β2X2 + β3X3 + β4X4 + β5X5……… βt Xt+ Ut, that explained the factors influencing the performance of agricultural cooperatives. The research findings identified several factors that influence agricultural cooperative performance such as lack : shortage of youth in agricultural cooperatives, poor implementation of land use consolidation policy for cooperatives members, absence of input savings mechanism, lack of knowledge on the development of action plan and annual budget, low level of accountability and transparency in cooperatives, poor value addition and low level of quality checks, excessive reliance on external assistance as well as low replication of modern agricultural practices at household level to boost members productivity. However the researcher suggested possible remedial measures that may help in fostering the performance of agricultural cooperative such as: reduction of external assistance, improvement member’s empowerment through trainings and education, and promotion of extension services programs as well as quality checks up of agricultural inputs and engagement of agricultural economics students and youth in cooperative.

Author: 
Augustine Mubirigi, Dr. Jaya Shukla and Dr. Robert Mbeche
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