In general, traditional co-operatives suffer from free-rider, horizon, portfolio, control and influence problems that starve them of both equity and debt capital. Evidently, the factors which constrain agricultural development also inhibit co-operative development in the former homelands. These factors include socio-economic as well as political factors operating in the environment of the cooperatives. In addition to these external factors, co-operatives have several internal problems such as inefficient management and lack of understanding of the co-operative concept and principles. The New Cooperative Act No. 14 of 2005 was an attempt at addressing these fundamental problems. The purpose of this study was to analyze the extent towhich cooperatives organized on the basis of this new Act have performed and to ascertainwhether or not they have met the expectations of the policy makers. In order to address these issues a structured questionnaire was used to interview 100 farmers. Farmers were divided into two groups, one group consisting of fifty members and the other fifty non-members; all these farmers were randomly selected from Ndonga and Maqhashu in Lady frère. The study investigated and profiled the socio-economic situation of the communities of Ndonga and Maqhashu with particular emphasis on the employment and poverty situations, as well as the income earning opportunities in the communities. It also undertook a comparison of the members and non-members of the co-operatives in terms of their production results under the sorghum production programmes in the two communities.The data were analyzed by means of descriptive and inferential statistics which explain some measures of central tendency and dispersion as well as levels of significance. A t-test of independent samples was used to compare the means for the sorghum yields and revenues for non-members and members of the co-operative. Gross margin analysis was also used to determine the financial implications of cooperation for the smallholders. In addition, a multiple regression model and a discriminant function were fitted to determine the factors explaining the differences in performance of members and non-members of the cooperative society. The Gross Margin analysis shows that the cooperatives are operating at a loss, meaning they produce less with high production costs. However, the results also show that the Ndonga and Maqhashu sorghum co-operative did not benefit only its members but the whole community through significant job creation for the local population.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufh/vital:11180 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Manciya, Sixolise |
| Publisher | University of Fort Hare, Faculty of Science & Agriculture |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Masters, MSc Agric (Agricultural Economics) |
| Format | xii, 137 leaves; 30 cm, pdf |
| Rights | University of Fort Hare |
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