Determinants of farmers’ access to microcredit from cooperative societies in Ondo state, Nigeria

The study examined the determinants of farmers’ access to microcredit from cooperative societies in Ondo state. A multistage sampling technique was used to obtain data from 100 respondents. Primary data was collected for the purpose of the study. We used descriptive statistics and logit regression model to analyses the data collected. Result showed that the farmers were mostly male farmers (64%) while majority of the farmers had a mean age of 44.10 ± 14.70. It was also revealed that consumer cooperative society, producer cooperative society, marketing cooperative society, cooperative farming society and credit and thrift cooperative society were the major forms of cooperative used by the farmers. The result also shows that age, marital status, farm size, farming experience, credit from another source and number of years in the cooperative significantly influenced farmers’ access to microcredit from cooperative society. Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. Tech. 11(2): 103-107, Dec 2021

The “awkwardnesses” of aid and exchange

Self-help and mutual aid have been at the heart of the consumer cooperative movement and its response to food insecurity since its inception. Yet how these terms are conceptualized and practiced in contemporary food co-ops often has more to do with their individual histories, ideologies, and the values of those involved than it does the history of the cooperative movement. Drawing on ethnographic examples from two London-based food co-ops with different backgrounds, this article explores how each enacts ideals of aid and exchange. It argues that the context of austerity creates “awkwardnesses” between and within personal values and organizational structures in the face of inequality, leading to blurred boundaries between different models of aid and exchange and the forms of moral accounting that these entail.

Consumer Cooperation in the Formation of Regional Food Resources

The main area of activity of consumer cooperatives is rural areas, where, in cooperation with regional authorities, it solves the problems of forming food resources. Providing the population with food is one of the main tasks of consumer cooperation in the sphere of national security of the state. Consumer societies participate in the formation of the regional market of agri-food products, acting as an integral part of the infrastructure of the regional economy. The volume of purchases of agri-food products by the consumer cooperative is a reliable indicator of the relationship with agricultural producers. In the system of purchasing agricultural products, an important place is occupied by the cooperative store, acting as an Outpost of consumer cooperation. Procurement points of consumer cooperation play a significant role in the development of the regional economy and the formation of food resources. In the regions of Russia, the Centrosoyuz consumer cooperative has its own material and technical resources, a system for harvesting agricultural products, and a network of wholesale and retail trade. Consumer cooperation is a reliable channel for selling agricultural products of small businesses through distribution points and cooperative stores. The activity of consumer cooperatives in the food supply system of the regions fully fits into the solution of the tasks formulated in the Russian food security Doctrine. Consumer cooperation is of particular importance for the development of private subsidiary and peasant (farm) farms. Consumer cooperatives buy agricultural products and raw materials; sell compound feed, fertilizers, varietal seeds of agricultural crops, etc. to the rural population. Procurement organizations of consumer cooperatives (receiving points and cooperative stores) they have extensive experience in purchasing agricultural products from agricultural producers, thus ensuring that small agricultural businesses sell their products, including through retail regional markets, through which 48% of the volume of potatoes, 44% of fruit and vegetable products, almost 40% of meat and poultry, and 20% of eggs are sold.

Consumer partnerships as organizational and legal form of a juridical entityэ

The status of a consumer partnership as one of organizational and legal forms of juridical entities, that is also one of organizational and legal forms of citizens’ more active participation in state-management and their personal needs satisfaction is determined in the article. The norms of the Civil Code and the State Code of Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine “On Cooperation” and the “On Consumer Cooperation” are analyzed. According to the mentioned documents an independent, democratic citizens’ organization who unite in order to conduct common management for the sake of improving their economic and social status on the basis of voluntary partnership and mutual support are considered to be a consumer partnership. The above mentioned regulatory legal acts provide for different features of consumer partnerships. The features of consumer partnerships provided by current legislation are not civil and legal in their nature. Such a situation has become a legacy of the fact that the principles of legal regulation of the system of consumer partnerships, formed in the USSR, has not almost been changed yet. The very fact is that there is a need to develop a new legal model of consumer partnerships, which structure will take into account modern tendencies of the development of European legislation. It’s possible to formulate a list of civil and legal features of consumer cooperative partnerships that will distinguish them among any other partnerships. Namely they are: non-entrepreneurial legal status of consumer partnership; sufficiency of the main rights of the members of a partnership; subjects of property right of the members of a partnership; responsibility of the members of a partnership for obligations of a consumer partnership. All these features allow us to distinguish consumer partnerships as a separate organizational and legal form of non-entrepreneurial partnerships. The following definition of a consumer cooperative partnership can be proposed: it is a non-entrepreneurial cooperative partnership which members have a right for a concern. The size of this concern is determined as a set of unit and additional contributions. The members are liable within the value of the unit and are entitled to profit within the limits determined by law. Key words: cooperative, consumer partnership, features of consumer partnerships.