ABSTRACT
The study examined the financial status of farmer cooperatives in the marketing of cassava products in Delta State, Nigeria. The potentials of cassava products marketing to agriculture and overall economic development cannot be over-emphasized. However not much seems to be known of the financial status of farmer cooperatives engaged in the marketing of cassava products. Therefore the study focused on such specific objectives as to: describe the socio-economic characteristics of the cooperative-members and the demographic profile of the farmer cooperatives, identify the cassava products marketed, the marketing functions performed, determine the profitability level, determine the effect of revenue from cassava marketing on the financial status of the cooperatives, identify the factors influencing the sales revenue and the constraints faced by the cooperatives.
A multistage sampling procedure involving both purposive and simple random sampling techniques was employed to select 70 farmer cooperatives and 160 cooperative members for the study. Data obtained were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics, budgetary and revenue growth analysis and information from Likert type scale measurement.
Results from the study showed that the mean age of the members was 41 years while the mean age of the cooperatives as at 2017 was 8 years with a mean membership strength of 23. The average male: female ratio was 2:3 and the mean household size was 6 with about 86.2% of the members having formal education. The mean marketing experience and mean membership duration was 7 years each. The core marketing functions performed by the farmer cooperatives were:: transportation, packaging, buying off members produce and direct marketing of cassava products for their members. The major cassava products marketed by the cooperatives were gari and starch while palm oil was the non-cassava product commonly marketed by the farmer cooperatives. The gross margin, profit and return on investment (ROI) for the cooperatives engaged in processing were N130.04, N113.6 and 0.52 respectively per kilogram (kg) of gari. The gross margin, profit and ROI for farmer cooperatives engaged in direct marketing of gari were N68.60, N60.17 and 0.22 respectively per kg of gari. The gross margin, profit and ROI for those engaged in the marketing of starch were N98.40, N90.68 and 0.28 respectively per kg of starch. The gross margin for both products for 2017 and 2016 were N2, 801,671.41 and N1, 847,493.63 respectively for total products marketed while the percentage growth rate from 2016 to 2017 was 44.67%. The contribution from the marketing of gari and starch to the financial status of the farmer cooperatives for 2016 and 2017 was 88.45% and 90.11% respectively.Membership strength and contribution from the marketing of cassava products were key factors influencing total revenue and were significant at 1% level of significance. The major constraints identified were: insufficient capital as well as inadequate/lack of cassava processing equipment. It was recommended among others that cooperatives should continue with the processing of cassava into gari and also engage in membership drive to increase their membership strength which will ultimately boost total revenue and enhance their financial status.
