Assessment of the Operational Performance of Farmers' Cooperative Societies in South East, Nigeria

To enhance the efficiency of cooperative societies, there is a need to improve their operational performance. To uncover the constraints and entry points for improving the operational performance of farmers’ cooperative societies in southeast Nigeria, this study analyzed responses from two hundred and forty respondents selected through a multi-stage sampling procedure. Frequency, mean,Likert scale, and ordered logit regression model were used for the analysis.The Perception of members of farmers’ cooperative societies on their operational performance showed lack of performance in terms of (i) members commitment in attendance to meetings,(ii) members satisfaction, commitment in payment of dues, (iii) members buying and selling their produce through cooperative. Conversely, the Perception of members of farmers’cooperative societies on their operational performance showed that the cooperatives in the area performed well in terms of members and committees access to trainings, participation during decision making, voting during elections and leaders emergence through democratic process .The ordered logit regression result of the socioeconomic factors to the operational performance of the farmers cooperatives, showed that membership strength, age of the cooperatives,access to free input,access to training, and access to infrastructural facilities were statistically significant and positively related to farmers’cooperatives level of operational performance