Increasing Cooperative Business Investment For Poverty Reduction And Rural Development In Anambra State, Nigeria
DR. CHINWE SUSSAN OKEKE
Nwafor orizu college of education, nsugbe Anambra state, nigeria
Keywords: Cooperative business, Investment, Poverty, Poverty reduction, Rural development
Abstract
The paper examined increasing cooperative business investment for poverty reduction and rural development in Anambra, Nigeria. It adopted a survey research design. The population of the study was 1250 which comprised of all the registered cooperative businesses in the local government area. A total of 460 cooperative businesses formed the sample size and which was achieved through stratified sampling based on activities and types. The instrument for data collection was a self structured questionnaire which contained 21 items and titled – Increasing Cooperative Business Investment for Poverty Reduction and Rural Development (ICBIPRRD). The instrument was subjected to face and content validity and pre test reliability was carried out to ascertain the consistency level of the instrument. Statistical mean and standard deviation were used to analyze the data collected. A mean score of 2.50 was taken as the bench mark to agree or disagree on any item. Findings showed that cooperative businesses help in poverty reduction and rural development through its activities and investment in cooperative business can improve through increased awareness and education, increased access to fund/credit facilities from outside sources and increased government attention to cooperative businesses. Based on the findings, it was concluded that since cooperative is a change agent; it is capable of reducing poverty and improving rural development. Hence, it was recommended that Cooperatives should diversify their channel of investment to areas like accessories, household goods, furniture and equipments in order to attract more interest and patronage from both members and non members. Also, they should diversify their sources of fund instead of dwelling only in member’s contribution to be able to pool more fund for investments.