Cooperative Association Research Articles

Assessment of the Effect of Bank of Agriculture Loan on Female Farmers’ Agricultural Production in Ekiti State, Nigeria

The study assessed the effect of Bank of Agriculture (BOA) loan on female farmers’ production in Ekiti State, Nigeria. A well-structured questionnaire was used to collect information from respondents in the study area through interview schedule. A multi-staged sampling procedure was used to select respondents for the study. Purposive sampling technique was used to select two (2) out of the three (3) Local Government Areas (LGAs) which BOA branches are established in Ekiti State i.e. Ado Ekiti and Ijero Ekiti. Then, 45 respondents were selected and interviewed, using convenience sampling in each of the LGA selected. In total, sample size of 90 respondents were interviewed for this study. Data collected were subjected to descriptive analysis, i.e. mean, percentage, frequency, standard deviation, minimum and maximum values were used to describe the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents. The result showed that the average age of the respondents was approximately 40 years and majority of the respondents (48.9 percent) had 7-12years of education. Also, 88.9 percent of the respondents had heard about BOA and 32.2 percent had received ₦50,000 or less. Results further showed that 77.8 percent of the respondents experienced increase in production capacity while 58.9 percent of the total respondents experienced better standard of living. Result from Probit regression model showed that ownership of land, awareness of BOA, and past and current credit use had statistically significant effect on loan accessibility. It further showed that marital status, ownership of land, awareness, past and current credit use and collateral had positive effect on loan accessibility. Contrarily, age, educational level, income, membership of association were inversely correlated with loan accessibility. About 69 percent of the respondents were faced with the challenges of need for guarantor, 61.1 percent of the respondents faced with the problem of bureaucracy i.e. unnecessary delay in provision of the loan, while 46.7 percent had challenges due to the location of BOA branches. It is therefore recommended that government should include access to credit in any agricultural development programs in Nigeria, and provide funds to BOA so as to reduce bureaucracy in loan disbursement. Also, Women farmers should be encouraged and educated by extension workers to belong to cooperative associations so as to enjoy benefits emanating from being members of agricultural association

Decentralized delivery of financial education: Experimental evidence from Rwanda

We implement a large-scale field experiment with 200 Savings and Credit Cooperative Associations (SACCOs) in Rwanda, and test competing models of local financial education delivery. One-third of SACCOs were invited to a comprehensive training-of-trainers (TOT) workshop and stipulated to send the SACCO manager, a loan officer, and a community board member to be trained. Another one-third were allowed free selection of trainers, which resulted in greater community representation and lower loan officer involvement at the TOT and higher attendance rates at the beneficiary trainings. We find no improvements in financial practices or behavior among the fixed selection group, but statistically significant and larger improvements in financial planning, rules of thumb, and savings deposits among the autonomous selection group. Qualitative fieldwork to understand mechanisms underscores the importance of community-led delivery of the financial education program.

Cooperative Association as a Juridical Personality for Sports Association: Referring Cooperative Model Sports Association in UK.

Cooperative Association as a Juridical Personality for Sports Association: Referring Cooperative Model Sports Association in UK.

A STUDY ON THE TRANSITION OF FORMATION AND ROLE OF ORGANIZATION FOR FISHERY STOCK IN FISHING VILLAGES

In this study, we analyzed the role of the fishery stock organization as well as its ownership transformation and system change transformation and system change in Owase City by divided into the two parts – the sea and the mountains for three periods and clarified the role of the Kuki town since the system has been established. As a result, here are our findings: (1) all the local community associations other than the existing “Kuki Neighborhood association” have been derived from the “Kukiura co-operative association” (2) These associations are operating as management committees of the sea and the mountain commons that has self-governing functions in the communities since 1890. In addition, (3) Even though the fishing rights and land ownership have been partially transferred to derived organizations over years when municipal systems change, the main management body resides in the “Kuki co-operative association”. Furthermore, fishery stocks has been transferred to numerous stockholders by complex adaptive system since 1890. Thus, dividend has also been allocated to those who left the community. The dividend distribution system for non-resident shareholders make them as beneficiaries as well as keep them involved in the communities. This case has a potential to adapt to the further community development system for connecting the other areas to the central hometown. Therefore, this fishing village which depends on the primary sector of the economy has a great prospect to build a sustainable community development by restructuring its existing self-governing system and mechanisms into modernized way including the sea, mountain and its management system.

Challenges in human resource management for sustaining the activities of a student association in international cooperation for agricultural development

Challenges in human resource management for sustaining the activities of a student association in international cooperation for agricultural development

Management of small agricultural cooperation and corporatization

The possibility of applying the principles of corporate governance in the practice of small agricultural businesses is considered. The authors believe that cooperative associations of small market participants can transform into corporate associations at a certain stage of development. The scientific novelty is represented by an improved economic mechanism of two-level cooperation of small agricultural enterprises with the financial participation of municipalities, regional and Federal authorities and the formation of their own cooperative Bank. The mechanism recommended by the authors is aimed at motivating small business participants to cooperate by the possibility of subsequent corporatization. The implementation of the cooperation development plan will require temporary exemption of its participants from the tax burden, while the state should practice joint construction of processing, logistics and other necessary facilities in the agricultural sector, with the subsequent transfer of its shares to consumer cooperatives of small businesses.

Production of asari (Manila) clams, Ruditapes philippinarum, during the period of harvest decrease in the 2000s in the Banzu tidal area, Tokyo Bay

In Tokyo Bay, the harvestable quantity of asari (Manila) clams Ruditapes philippinarum has been decreasing since the late 1990s. We conducted a field investigation on clam density in the Banzu culture area from April 1988 to December 2014 and collected records spanning January 1986 to September 2017 from relevant fisheries cooperative associations to clarify the relationship between the temporal variation in stock abundance and the production activities of fishermen. The yearly variation in clam abundance over the study period was marked by larger decreases in the numbers of larger clams. A large quantity of juvenile clams, beyond the biological productivity of the culture area, may have been introduced as seed stock in the late 1980s despite the high level of harvestable stock. The declines in harvested quantity began in the late 1990s and may have been caused by decreases in harvestable stock despite the continuous addition of seed stock clams. The harvested quantity is likely to be significantly dependent upon the wild clam population, even within the culture area, as the harvestable quantity was not correlated with the quantity of seed stock introduced during the study period. These declines in harvested quantity may have resulted from a decreasing number of operating harvesters due to the low level of harvestable stock and consequently reduced profitability. Two findings were emphasized. A certain management style, based on predictions of the contributions of wild and introduced clams to future stock biomass, is essential for economically-feasible culturing. In areas with less harvestable stock, actions should be taken to maintain the incomes of harvesters while avoiding overexploitation, even if the total harvest quantity decreases.

Role of zealots in a network model of cooperative political associations

A discrete-time deterministic model is proposed of expected electoral choices in a large community of influencing each other participants. Each perspective voter opinion is affected by a restricted, small number of other decision-makers. General analysis and related computer simulations are done for a democratic multi-party system. Main observations reduce to the indication of the critical role of the so-called hard core electorate as well as to stressed importance of the time scales of the opinion formation periods. In particular, a mechanism is demonstrated when an initially small minority of extremists may, in a longer run, radicalize others and get majority of the votes.

Spółdzielczość jako forma integracji środowisk gospodarczych (perspektywa prawna)

Ideą artykułu jest realizacja celu poznawczego, którym jest zbadanie, czy w Ustawie z dnia 16 września 1982 r. Prawo spółdzielcze (tekst jednolity: Dz.U. z 2018 r., poz. 1285 z późn. zm.) znajdują się rozwiązania prawne sprzyjające integracji środowisk gospodarczych przez spółdzielczość, oraz celu praktycznego, zmierzającego do sformułowania pod adresem prawodawcy postulatów dotyczących spółdzielczości. Hipoteza badawcza artykułu stanowi, że wspomniana wyżej ustawa zawiera rozwiązania prawne sprzyjające integracji środowisk gospodarczych przez spółdzielczość, choć rozwiązania te posiadają luki ustawodawcze. Zastosowana metoda badawcza to metoda dogmatyczna. Przeprowadzone badania pozwalają stwierdzić, że spółdzielczość jest formą prawną integrującą środowiska gospodarcze. Realizacja celu poznawczego nasunęła określone wnioski. Przede wszystkim, odrębne kategorie spółdzielni pomagają w integracji różnych środowisk gospodarczych. Ponadto organizacja organów spółdzielni sprzyja integracji ich członków. Co więcej, elementem integrującym środowiska gospodarcze jest działalność związków spółdzielczych i samorządu spółdzielczego. Z kolei realizacja celu praktycznego pozwoliła sformułować postulaty dotyczące polityki ustawodawczej w zakresie spółdzielczości. Przede wszystkim należy stworzyć więcej kategorii spółdzielni w celu integracji kolejnych środowisk gospodarczych. Ponadto, należy zmodyfikować funkcjonowanie organów spółdzielni w taki sposób, aby lepiej uwzględniać w uchwałach interes wszystkich członków spółdzielni. Realizacja celów artykułu potwierdziła słuszność hipotezy badawczej.

Structured Medical Pathology Data Hiding Information Association Mining Algorithm Based on Optimized Convolutional Neural Network

When using traditional algorithms to mine the association of hiding information in medical pathological data, there are some problems, such as low recognition rate of association and poor accuracy of mining results. Therefore, structured medical pathology data hiding information association mining algorithm based on optimized convolution neural network is proposed. Firstly, an information feature is optimized based on rough set relative classification information entropy and ant colony algorithm and the optimized feature matrix is obtained. The information in the optimized feature matrix is weighted, and the weighted features of hiding information are obtained. Secondly, the hiding information feature matrix is transmitted to the convolution neural network for learning, and the weight of the connection layer is extracted. The importance of the corresponding area of the weight is confirmed by the distribution of the weight value, and the feature average matrix is obtained. According to the matrix, the feature of hiding information data is enhanced. The hiding information in the structured medical pathology data is generalized by using the Gaussian Bell function, and the hiding information generalization processing result is combined with the adjacent matrix in the convolution neural network to construct the hiding information classification model. Finally, the classification standard is defined, the cooperative association of hiding information group is obtained, and the mining of association between hiding information of structured medical pathological data is completed. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm has good feature optimization effect, and the information association recognition rate is high, the anti-interference ability and accuracy are better than the current related results, the highest recall rate is 99.24%, which is much higher than the traditional algorithm, which shows that the algorithm is effective.

Vasilii Maksimov: Individuality and Collectivism in Pëtr Krestonostsev’s Artel of Artists

This essay explores the circumstances which led the Russian painter Vasilii Maksimov to compose an unusual group portrait in the early months of 1864. The work was painted shortly after fourteen students withdrew from the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg and formed a cooperative association known as the St. Petersburg Artel of Artists, a commune spearheaded by the painter Ivan Kramskoi. Shortly after these events, Maksimov would join an Artel of artists established by the Academy graduate Pёtr Krestonostsev. Few scholars discuss this Artel but exploring the ways it mirrored collective ideals for artistic practice then prevalent in Paris sheds light on how homosocial networks of support rose to the fore in this historical moment. Maksimov’s 1864 group portrait records the productive conflict that resulted from artists’ desire to work with one another through discourse and collaboration in both eastern and western Europe in the period.

Vasilii Maksimov: Individuality and Collectivism in Pëtr Krestonostsev’s Artel of Artists

Abstract This essay explores the circumstances which led the Russian painter Vasilii Maksimov to compose an unusual group portrait in the early months of 1864. The work was painted shortly after fourteen students withdrew from the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg and formed a cooperative association known as the St. Petersburg Artel of Artists, a commune spearheaded by the painter Ivan Kramskoi. Shortly after these events, Maksimov would join an Artel of artists established by the Academy graduate Pёtr Krestonostsev. Few scholars discuss this Artel but exploring the ways it mirrored collective ideals for artistic practice then prevalent in Paris sheds light on how homosocial networks of support rose to the fore in this historical moment. Maksimov’s 1864 group portrait records the productive conflict that resulted from artists’ desire to work with one another through discourse and collaboration in both eastern and western Europe in the period.

State of the sector: US worker cooperatives in 2017

Purpose This is a national census of all worker cooperatives in the USA for 2017 implemented by the Democracy at Work Institute which is affiliated with the United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives, the largest worker cooperative association in the USA. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach Longitudinal survey with descriptive analysis of results. Findings The author identified 394 worker cooperatives and democratic workplaces in all areas of the country in fiscal year 2017 (though early tracking for 2018 shows at least 400 such businesses). While the typical worker cooperative is small (about nine workers and about $588,600 gross annual revenue) and either recently launched, or converted to the form, there are many notable examples of very large and/or long lasting businesses. Together they employ an estimated 6,734 workers and produce about $467m in revenue each year. The following analysis attempts to outline the basic geographic, structural, economic and demographic features of these enterprises. Research limitations/implications The author reached out to this list of businesses via e-mail and telephone contact between August and November 2018. This included both members of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives and non-members. The author asked participants to provide information based on their fiscal year 2017 performance. The survey asked similar questions to the prior year’s survey (e.g. total revenue, total assets, total wages, net income, total workers, total worker–owners, etc.), but also included some small changes in content, format and style. In total, 105 worker cooperatives responded and either fully or substantially completed the survey questions. All non-responsive firms were verified to be in business and operate as worker cooperatives in 2017 to the best of the author’s knowledge. Regardless of whether they responded, the author assigned all businesses an industry (NAICS) classification, foundational year and primary location based on basic internet research. This allowed the author to examine the larger universe when analyzing issues around the geography, age and industry of these enterprises. Additionally, internet research also allowed the author to add some other information about a portion of the non-responding worker cooperatives (e.g. number of workers, etc.) when such information was self-reported on their websites. Originality/value This is the only census of worker cooperatives done in the USA to the author’s knowledge.

ANALYSIS OF FARM INCOME OF BENEFICIARIES AND NON-BENEFICIARIES OF HADEJIA VALLEY IRRIGATION PROJECT IN JIGAWA STATE, NIGERIA

The study examined the impact of Hadejia Valley irrigation project (HVIP) on farm income of beneficiaries in Jigawa State, Nigeria. From the list of 7036 respondents, 207 project beneficiaries and 146 non-beneficiaries were selected using a multi-stage random sampling making a total of 353 as the sample size of the study. Data were obtained using structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics and F-test statistics. The results showed that beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries had a mean age of 47 and 45 years, a mean household size of 15 and 21 persons, educational levels of 8 and 7 years and mean off-farm income of N137,797.00 and N237,104 .00, respectively. The study also established 30 and 24 years of irrigation farming experience, farm sizes of 3.2 and 2.1 hectares, N33,641.00 and N55, 709.00 spent in hiring labour, farm distances of 3 and 0.9 kilometres, 5 and 3 extension visits per season, a mean of N52,771.00 and N50,205.00, N50,205.68 and N32,422.33 as credit and subsidy, respectively. Membership of cooperative associations indicated a mean of 0.8 and 0.5 for beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries, respectively. In the study area, the average total cost of production per hectare of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries were N527,179.00 and N363, 191.00, and net farm income of N814,852.00 and N403,753.00 realized, respectively. The result of the F-test statistics on cost of production indicated F1,410 of 68.3> F at critical value of 3.86 at p = 5. 66E07 and farm income F1,410 of 726.3 >F at critical value of 3.86 at p = 8.56E-93 (P<0.05) level of significance. This suggested a significant impact of Hadejia valley irrigation project on farm income of the respondents. The study concludes that the project has had positive impact on the farm income of the project beneficiaries. It therefore, recommends that government should encourage income sources diversification; measures should be taken by the project authority to address inadequate access to extension. The project beneficiaries should form farmers’ co-operatives and measures should be taken by the project authorities to promote cost-saving technologies that encourage release of labour from irrigation to reduce the cost of production.

Fisheries women groups in Japan: a shift from well-being to entrepreneurship

Women’s groups in rural fishery areas were established in the mid-1950s. By 1959, they became integrated in local Fishery Cooperative Associations as parallel organizations. These Fisheries Cooperative Associations, established in 1948, represent all fishers in Japan, who are primarily men. The purpose of the women’s groups was to provide well-being by improving the living conditions of families and communities. While men were busy building the production facilities and the cooperatives, women organized themselves to protect and improve the everyday life of families. From 1995 and the World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, some of these women groups ran economic entrepreneurial activities with the financial support of the State through the cooperatives. This new role of women’s groups aims to improve the economic and social development and environment of families and communities facing depopulation problems who need to increase the number of young people. This paper examines the role of cooperative associations in rural, fishery communities and shows how these associations “handed over” the social responsibilities to the women groups who then developed their social skills and competences. Special emphasis is put on how the women groups changed their activity from social issues to environmental protection, promotion of fishery products, and to entrepreneurial activities. The paper also problematizes the difficulties the women met in order to get their contribution to the fisheries communities and industry recognized, as well as their status.

Problems of state regulation of agriculture of Ukraine

The problems of state support of agriculture of Ukraine are analyzed. Scientific publications are dominated by criticism of existing support systems without conventional approaches to improving it. Even the interpretation of the concept of “state support” is debatable. The development of state support programs is complicated by the unformed market environment, the high level of monopolization of the agricultural procurement sector, and the difficulty of bringing small producers to target market segments. It is concluded that because of this, the possibility of creating private farms without their registration as legal entities is not realized. There has been a tendency for the emergence and accelerated development of particularly large farms focused on production for the export of raw materials while aggravating the social problems of the village. Only by government support will the negative trends in cattle reductions be offset. It is proposed to increase the effectiveness of state support programs by creating self-regulatory vertical marketing systems, in which the interests of all participants of these systems, ensuring their sustainable development, will be coordinated without direct state administrative intervention. Organizationally, it is easiest to create vertical marketing systems based on the initiative of existing processing plants, for which this is a way of procuring the required amount of raw materials with specified characteristics. Such raw materials can produce competitive products both domestically and internationally. Public financial support for such systems will ensure that their processes of origin and development are intensified. The organization's discussion on the cooperative principles of small processing is critically evaluated. It is shown that the main advantage of organizing such processing is to overcome market monopolization, to ensure without price interference stabilization of prices and their formation at a level acceptable to all members of the cooperative association. The risk of expected price uncertainty is reduced and bank loans may be attracted accordingly. Business plans for the development of individual enterprises and industries can be developed based on the expected price. The development of state targeted programs for agricultural development is simplified. Direction of state targeted programs of agricultural development and achievement of strategic goals, orientation to the data of the purpose of individual economic entities implies constant research and forecasting of market trends. Even large agricultural enterprises or business associations cannot carry out such research on their own. They provide for taking into account the expected values of macroeconomic indicators, and taking into account the international integration of Ukraine and the situation of the international market. Such research by state institutions, dissemination of information on the results of research, bringing information to all participants of the agrarian market is more important state support than direct state financial support.

Entrepreneurial Competencies and Performance of Dairy Cooperatives in Machakos County, Kenya

The objective of the study was to establish entrepreneurial competencies and performance of dairy cooperatives in Machakos County, Kenya. Specifically, to establish the extent to which managerial competencies influence performance of dairy cooperatives in Machakos County, Kenya; to determine the extent to which entrepreneurial traits influence performance of dairy cooperatives in Machakos County, Kenya; and to assess the effects of technical skills on performance of dairy cooperatives in Machakos County, Kenya. The study was descriptive. The study was a census of the 15 dairy cooperatives registered under the Lower Eastern Dairy Cooperative Association in Machakos County. The unit of analysis was the cooperatives while the units of observations were the board members of the cooperatives. A standard questionnaire was used to collect primary data from the board members of the cooperatives. Data analysis included frequencies, percentages, and t- tests. The data was analyzed by use of computer statistical packages and data presented in tables and figures. Based on the first study objective, study concludes that there was lack of sufficient evidence to show that managerial competencies have an effect on performance of dairy cooperatives in Machakos County. Based on the second study objective, the study concludes that there is adequate evidence to show that entrepreneurial traits have positive effects on performance of dairy cooperatives in Machakos County. Based on the third study objective, the study concludes that there is adequate evidence to show that technical skills have positive effects on performance of dairy cooperatives in Machakos County. The study recommends development, adoption and full implementation of business and strategic plans for the cooperatives for them to attain sustainable competitiveness and growth. The study also recommends data based product development and diversification. Further training would be critical in building capacity for creativity, risk taking, situational analysis and opportunity identification. Moreover, the study recommends training to enhance employees’ capacity and effectiveness in financial management; procurement; production; and marketing. Particularly, loss of revenue due to spoilage of milk can be controlled by training on best processing and quality control methods while training on marketing, would be critical in enhancing product penetration, reducing customer complaints and stimulating positive growth. Finally, further investigations should be conducted to widening the scope of the study to compare Machakos to other parts of the Country and also to identify reasons for high labor turnover and poor public relations between the cooperatives and communities surrounding them. Keywords: Entrepreneurial competency, Performance DOI : 10.7176/EJBM/11-33-13 Publication date: November 30 th 2019

Sandy soils amended with bentonite induced changes in soil microbiota and fungistasis in maize fields

The addition of bentonite, used as soil conditioner, can promote sandy soil macro-aggregate formation, moisture content retention and increase soil nutrient concentrations. However, there is limited knowledge about how bentonite influences soil microbial communities and interconnections among community members associated with crops, such as maize in continuous production on sandy soils. Metabarcoding analysis of the fungal internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) region and the bacterial 16S rRNA gene V4 region revealed that the fungal communities in sandy maize fields (dominated by Guehomyces, Alternaria and Mortierella) were more diverse and abundant in soils amended with bentonite than those without bentonite amendment. By contrast, the bacterial communities (dominated by Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria) had similar alpha-diversity under both conditions but many functional guilds, including those affiliated with fermentation and N-cycling, differed significantly in community compositional structure between soils with and without bentonite amendment. The increase in soil nutrient concentrations due to the addition of bentonite was a key factor associated with changes in the bacterial communities. However, the fungal communities were more strongly influenced by the capacity of bentonite to increase soil moisture retention and enhance macro-aggregate development. Molecular ecological network analysis revealed more competitive (62.1% of total significant associations) than cooperative (37.9%) associations among microbial community members across all soils studied. The observation that fungal phytopathogens recovered from bentonite-amended soils had more negative correlations (75.6%) with naturally occurring beneficial bacteria and/or fungi than those in non-bentonite soils (65.2%), perhaps suggests, although speculation, that the addition of bentonite promoted soil fungistasis. In summary, our study showed that the addition of bentonite increased maize productivity and reshaped the microbial functional guilds in sandy soils, a consequence of improved soil structure as well as water and nutrient retention; however, the amendment’s long-term impact on soil suppressiveness to fungal phytopathogens is worth further investigation.

МНОГОПРОМЫСЛОВАЯ КООПЕРАЦИЯ ЯМАЛА В ЛИЦАХ

The article examines the process of the formation and development of Yamal commercial cooperation. Relying on previously unknown archival materials, the paper analyses the organizational and legal issues of forming the industrial artels of the Yamalo-Nenets Commercial Cooperative Association, examines the biographies of their leaders. The author identifies the forms and methods of administering the mentioned artels. The paper clarifies the contribution of the commercial cooperative officials to the socio-economic development of North-Western Siberia.

The Investigation of Dependence Between the Internet Measurement and Globalization

Under the new measurement for the internet supplied from the Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA), the authors relax the orthogonal and normality condition with the methodology based on empirical codependence structures and marginal distributions. The nonparametric dependence between the diffusion of the internet and different globalization indices is examined using a panel of 10 countries, as long as error terms do not follow multivariate Gaussian distributions. The model selections are ranked and the authors find the best dependence model. The empirical dependence of the Internet diffusion on the globalization is further demonstrated from the dynamic copula analysis.