MEASURING PERCEPTIONS AND THE DRIVERS OF MEMBERSHIP COMMITMENT OF COCOA FARMERS’ COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES IN ATWIMA MPONUA DISTRICT, GHANA

Authors

  • Justice Frimpong-Manso Department of Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness and Extension, KNUST-Kumasi
  • Enoch Kwame Tham-Agyekum Department of Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness and Extension, KNUST-Kumasi
  • David Boansi Department of Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness and Extension, KNUST-Kumasi
  • Fred Ankuyi Department of Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness and Extension, KNUST-Kumasi
  • Evans Antwi Department of Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness and Extension, KNUST-Kumasi
  • John-Eudes Andivi Bakang Department of Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness and Extension, KNUST-Kumasi
  • Frederick Osei Tawiah Department of Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness and Extension, KNUST-Kumasi
  • Fred Nimoh Department of Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness and Extension, KNUST-Kumasi

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21776/ub.agrise.2023.023.1.14

Keywords:

Cooperative Benefits, Cooperative Membership, Cooperative Management, Marketing and Business, Member Commitment, Perception, Public Interest

Abstract

Limited studies exist on the commitment of members to cooperative societies. Therefore, the study sought to measure perceptions of membership and the drivers of membership commitment of cocoa farmers' cooperative societies in the Atwima Mponua District of Ashanti Region, Ghana. Data was collected from a sample of 400 cocoa farmers through a multi-stage sampling technique. Descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (binary logit regression) were used in analyzing the data. Results show that cocoa farmers agree that they benefit from the cooperative and they appreciate the management, marketing and business, internal dynamics and public interest of their cooperatives. The study also discovered that farm age, access to extension service, farming experience, farmer status, cooperative benefits and internal dynamics are critical to obtaining commitment in cooperative societies. The study shows the need for the Ghana Cocoa Board to improve farmers’ access to extension services so as to improve their commitment in cooperative societies. Cooperative organizations are encouraged to consider the perceptions of the cocoa farmers and their socio-economic characteristics in order to elicit the desired commitment.

References

Abebaw D & Haile M. G. (2013). The impact of cooperatives on agricultural technology adoption: Empirical evidence from Ethiopia, Food Policy, 2013, 38(C), 82-91

Agbo, F.U. (2009). Farmers’ Perception of Cooperative Societies in Enugu State, Nigeria, Agro-Science Journal of Tropical Agriculture, Food, Environment and Extension, 8(3), 169- 174

Baker J. L. (2000). Evaluating the impact of development projects on poverty: A handbook for practitioners. Washington DC: The World Bank.

Bernard, T., and Spielman, D. J. (2009). Reaching the Rural Poor through Rural Producer Organizations? A Study of Agricultural Marketing Cooperatives in Ethiopia. Food Policy 34, 60–69.

Borgen, S. O. (2001). Identification as a Trust Generating Mechanism in Cooperatives. Ann. Public Coop. Econ. 72, 209–228.

Dary, S. K., and Grashuis, J. (2021). Characterization of Farmerâ€based Cooperative Societies in the Upper West Region of Ghana. Ann. Public Coop. Econ. 14, 33

Diener, E., and Biswas-Diener, R. (2002). Will Money Increase Subjective Well-Being? Soc. Indic. Res. 57, 119–169.

Feng, L., and Hendrikse, G. (2008). On the Nature of a Cooperative: a System of Attributes Perspective. Soc. Sci. Electron. Publ. 12, 13–26.

Feng, L., Friis, A., and Nilsson, J. (2016). Social Capital among Members in Grain Marketing Cooperatives of Different Sizes. Agribusiness 32, 113–126.

Fischer E & Qaim M, 2012. Linking smallholders to markets: Determinants and impacts of farmer collective action in Kenya. World Development 40(6): 1255–68.

Fulton, M. (1995). The Future of Canadian Agricultural Cooperatives: A Property Rights Approach. Am. J. Agric. Econ. 77, 1144–1152.

Grashuis, J., and Cook, M. L. (2019). A Structural Equation Model of Cooperative Member Satisfaction and Long-Term Commitment. Int. Food Agribus. Manage. Rev. 22, 247–263.

Guo, H., Chen, M., and Han, S. (2011). An Analysis of the Attainability of Farmer’s Specialized Cooperatives for Formal Credit and its Determinants—Based on Survey to Farmer’s Specialized Cooperatives in Zhejiang Province. Chin. Rural Econ. 9, 25–33.

Hansen, M., Morrow, J. L., and Batista, J. C. (2002). The Impact of Trust on Cooperative Membership Retention, Performance, and Satisfaction: An Exploratory Study. Int. Food Agribus. Manag. Rev. 5, 41–59

Hellin, J., Lundy, M., and Meijer, M. (2009). Farmer Organization, Collective Action and Market Access in Meso-America. Food Policy 34, 16–22.

Hendrikse, G. W. J., and Veerman, C. P. (2001). Marketing Cooperatives and Financial Structure: a Transaction Costs Economics Analysis. Agric. Econ. 26, 205–216.

Hernández-Espallardo, M., Arcas-Lario, N., and Marcos-Matás, G. (2013). Farmers’ Satisfaction and Intention to Continue Membership in Agricultural Marketing Co-operatives: Neoclassical versus Transaction Cost Considerations. Eur. Rev. Agric. Econ. 40 (2), 239–260.

ICA. (2013). Statement on the Co-operative, Journal of Business Management & Social Sciences Research (JBM&SSR), 2(4), 130

Kontogeorgos, A., Chatzitheodoridis, F., and Theodossiou, G. (2014). Willingness to Invest in Agricultural Cooperatives: Evidence from Greece. J. Rural Coop. 42, 122–138.

Ma, W., and Abdulai, A. (2016). Does Cooperative Membership Improve Household Welfare? Evidence from Apple Farmers in China. Food Policy 58, 94–102.

McFadden. D. "Conditional Logit Analysis ofQualitative Choice Behavior." In Frontiers in Econometrics. ed. P. Zarembka. New York: Academic Press. 1973.

Mojo, D., Fischer, C., and Degefa, T. (2017). The Determinants and Economic Impacts of Membership in Coffee Farmer Cooperatives: Recent Evidence from Rural Ethiopia. J. Rural Stud. 50, 84–94

Morfi, C., Nilsson, J., Hakelius, K., and Karantininis, K. (2021). Social Networks and Member Participation in Cooperative Governance. Agribusiness 37 (2), 264–285

Morfi, C., Ollila, P., Nilsson, J., Feng, L., and Karantininis, K. (2015). “Motivation behind Members' Loyalty to Agricultural Cooperatives,†in Interfirm Networks - Franchising, Cooperatives and Strategic Alliances. Editors J. Windsperger, G. Cliquet, Th. Ehrmann, and G. Hendrikse (Heidelberg: Springer International Publishing AG), 173–190.

Nilsson, J., Kihlén, A., and Norell, L. (2009). Are Traditional Cooperatives an Endangered Species? about Shrinking Satisfaction, Involvement and Trust. Int. Food Agribus. Manag. Rev. 12, 103–123.

Phakathi, S. (2021), Heterogeneous welfare effects of farmer groups in smallholder irrigation schemes in South Africa, African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 16 (1), 27-45

Sinyolo S & Mudhara M, 2018a. Collective action and rural poverty reduction: Empirical evidence from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Agrekon 57(1): 78–90.

Valentinov, V. (2004). Social Capital and Organisational Performance: A Theoretical Perspective. J. Institutional Innov. Dev. Transit. 11, 23–33.

Valentinov, V. (2007). Why Are Cooperatives Important in Agriculture? An Organizational Economics Perspective. J. Inst. Econ. 3, 55–69.

Verhofstadt, E., and Maertens, M. (2014). Smallholder Cooperatives and Agricultural Performance in Rwanda: Do Organizational Differences Matter? Agric. Econ. 45, 39–52.

Yamane, T. (1973). Statistics: an introductory analysis, New York: Harper & Row.

Yu, L., and Nilsson, J. (2019). Social Capital and Financial Capital in Chinese Cooperatives. Sustainability 11, 2415–15.

Downloads

Published

2023-01-31

How to Cite

Frimpong-Manso, J., Tham-Agyekum, E. . K., Boansi, D., Ankuyi, F., Antwi, E., Bakang, J.-E. A., Tawiah, F. O., & Nimoh, F. (2023). MEASURING PERCEPTIONS AND THE DRIVERS OF MEMBERSHIP COMMITMENT OF COCOA FARMERS’ COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES IN ATWIMA MPONUA DISTRICT, GHANA. Agricultural Socio-Economics Journal, 23(1), 111–120. https://doi.org/10.21776/ub.agrise.2023.023.1.14

Issue

Vol. 23 No. 1 (2023): JANUARY

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2023 Justice Frimpong-Manso, Enoch Kwame Tham-Agyekum, David Boansi, Fred Ankuyi, Evans Antwi, John-Eudes Andivi Bakang, Frederick Osei Tawiah, Fred Nimoh

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

    1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
    2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
    3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).

Most read articles by the same author(s)