CHAPTER ONE

1.1.Background of the Study

Agricultural cooperatives refer to self-management and self-service organizations that facilitate agricultural production and marketing as they come together and pool their resources together to solve a common problem or meet a common goal cooperative can either be for marketing purposes, production, inputs supply purposes. The history of cooperatives has been nearly 100 years across the globe, although economic research on them is widely believed to start with Emelianoff (1942). Since then lots of relevant studies sprang out. For example, Christopher and Walzer (2004) theoretically examined cooperatives’ effect on local development in the 21 century. Bruynis, Goldsmith, Hahn, and Taylor (2001), Maharjan and Fradejas (2006), and Wollni and Zeller (2007) studied the important role played by cooperatives improving rural households’ income and product competitiveness in the market, and analyzed the key factors deciding the success of newly born agricultural  cooperatives. Hendrikse and Bijman (2002)
 Poultry farming which is the raising of rising of birds domestically or commercially, primarily for meat and eggs but also for feathers. Chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese are of primary importance, while guinea fowl and squabs (young pigeons) are chiefly of local interest. This article treats the principles and practices of poultry farming. For a discussion of the food value and processing of poultry products,

Poultry farmers are faced with whole lots of challenges that as individuals farmers they can’t handle alone and that has great effects or impacts on their performance either at the production, marketing or transformation level. Poultry farmers in Tubah subdivision Bamenda are face with numerous problem such as lack of access to get loans or face with difficulty of hight interest loans ,they are face with high cost of inputs as they buy individually in smallest quantities.most poultry farmers has low educational knowledge and accessing research centers is far costly for them especially as most of them are not even educated .they are constantly not able to meet up with the demand of the supply due to small size farm cost by either high cost of production and lack of capital.

Many other researchers have investigated reasons why cooperatives exist and what factors affect its development. For example, Guo and Jiang (2004) A number of studies also examined farmer’s willingness and behavior in participating in cooperatives (Lu et al., 2008, Su and Wei, 2004, Zhang et al., 2007). Some other papers discussed cooperative’s functions (Huang et al., 2002, Kong and Guo, 2006).

But much more we wants to see into how  farmers belonging in a cooperatives can create more positive effects on their  performance  in Tubah either at marketing level, production or transformation level. This is because  cooperatives help farmers  to meet up the demands for agricultural products, mobilize resources and get quality inputs and at low or moderate price, easily able to form research center as they will be able to make contribution and thus it will not still be load as is a group work or responsibility. Promote product marketing and sales, facilitate technology advancement and spillovers, and alleviate the contradiction between farmers’ scattered small-scale production and large market (Xu, 2005, Xu and Huang, 2005).Agricultural cooperatives, registered in local governments, are voluntary organizations that help farmers raise incomes through cooperation in technology, information, fund, distribution, processing, and storage. It is “of the people, by the people, for the people. This study therefore will examine the impart of agricultural cooperatives on individual farmers drawing evident from poultry farmers in Tubah sub-division

1.2. Statement of the Research Problem

Smallholder agriculture is argued to remain important for economic development and poverty reduction in developing countries including Cameroon but its development is challenged by the need for institutional innovations to overcome market failures (World Bank, 2008). To overcome such challenges, the Cameroon government has in one way or the other been promoting farmers’ association such as agricultural co-operatives. However, it is foreseen that collective action would enhance smallholder farmer participation to market their produce effectively and efficiently thereby enhancing growth in rural areas (Chirwa et al., 2005).

Cooperatives cover a large part of the agricultural sectors, and could therefore play a role in the improvement of farm sustainability. Through their close relationships with farmers, agricultural cooperatives may be key actors in supply chains to help farmers change their agricultural practices and to favour the adoption of more sustainable practices. Cooperative values such as democratic decision-making, equality and solidarity give cooperatives a unique identity, which differentiates them from other types of enterprise and implies that they have a distinct organizational characteristic (ICA, 2020).

There are a handful of farmer cooperatives in Tubah sub division there aim is to spur sustainable economic growth by focusing on achievement of desired outcomes through strengthening of the movement, improving cooperative extension service delivery, corporate governance, access to markets and marketing efficiency. The cooperatives have an immense potential to deliver goods and services in areas where both the public and the private sector have not ventured (Verma, 2004). In most cases cooperatives are local institutions that address “local needs”, employ “local talent” and are led by “local leaders” either directly or through local branches.

However, very few of them explicitly looked at effects of cooperative membership on production and marketing of animal. There is therefore, a need to better understand the extent to which agricultural cooperatives are performing, so as to stimulate the development of the smallholder farming sector. In this study, we assess the impact of cooperative membership on farm performance in Tubah.

1.3 Research Questions

1.3.1. Main research Question

What is the effects of cooperative membership on the performance of individual poultry farmers in Tubah sub- division, Bamenda, North West region of Cameroon?

1.3.2. Specific Questions

• What are the different advantages offered by cooperatives to individual farmers in Tubah vision?
• What factors influence farmers’ decisions to join cooperatives in Tubah sub
• What is the effects of belonging to a cooperative on the performance of individual farmers in Tubah sub division?

1.4. Research Objectives

1.4.1. Main Research Objective

The main objective of the study is to assess the effects of cooperative membership on the performance of individual poultry farmers in Tubah sub- division, Bamenda, North West region of Cameroon

1.4.2. Specific Objectives

• To determine different advantages offered by cooperatives to individual poultry farmers in Tuba sub division.
• To examine Factors that influence farmers decisions to join a cooperative

To evaluate the impact of belonging to a cooperative on the performance of individual poultry farmers in Tubah sub division