INFLUENCE OF WOMEN COOPERATIVES ON THE WELFARE OF RURAL HOUSEHOLDS IN OSUN STATE, NIGERIA
Keywords:
Household welfare, Thrift societies, Women participation, Loan utilisationAbstract
Cooperative societies have proven to be valuable setups for social inclusion and women's empowerment. This study assessed the contributions of women cooperatives to household welfare in rural communities of Osun state, Nigeria. Using a multistage sampling procedure, 160 registered women cooperators were proportionately selected by size across wards. Interview schedules were used to collect data, which were analysed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square, Pearson Product-Moment Correlation, and t-test analyses. The age of respondents was 47.0±11.0 years, with most of them being married (79.4%). Over fifty-five percent of respondents were processors with an average monthly household income of ?18,713.25. The majority were members of credit and thrift societies (95.6%) and processing cooperatives (51.9%). Lack of government support (1.53) and diversion of loans for different purposes (0.93) were major constraints to participation in cooperatives. Most respondents were worse off (60.6%) before joining cooperatives and better off (57.5%) after associating with one form of cooperative or another. Monthly income (r = 0.220), years of experience in cooperative (r = 0.298), educational qualification (?2 = 13.189), level of participation in cooperative (r =0.129), benefit derived from participating in cooperative (r =0.377) and constraints to participating in cooperative (r =-0.116) were significantly related to respondents’ welfare status. Membership in cooperatives influenced the welfare of women cooperators. However, there was a need for training on various modes of operation of cooperative societies. This would ensure that rural women benefited maximally from the services of cooperative societies.
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