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This study investigates the role of policy support in addressing barriers to effective small-scale cooperative farming in South African municipality, with a focus on identifying potential solutions to improve the success rate of agricultural co-operatives in the uMhlathuze local municipality. Despite their potential, agricultural co-operatives face significant challenges, with studies indicating an alarming failure of 88% in the country. This high failure rate underscores the need to understand how policy support can address the shortcomings hindering the success of agricultural co-operatives. The high failure rate of agricultural co-operatives in South Africa highlights a critical gap in policy support, necessitating an exploration of how policy interventions can mitigate challenges and enhance the viability of co-operative small-scale farming. The research adopts a secondary data collection method and thematic data analysis. Findings indicate that a combination of lack of member commitment, insufficient training and capacity building and financial constraints are a result of inadequate policy support; policies are not effectively addressing co-ops needs. The study recommends that policymakers should revise and tailor existing policies to better address the unique needs and challenges of small-scale farming co-operatives, enhancing their viability and sustainability.

Maize serves as South Africa's principal staple crop; yet, smallholder farmers in the Eastern Cape encounter persistent obstacles, such as low productivity and restricted market access. Cooperatives are often advocated to enhance livelihoods and facilitate farmers' integration into global value chains, however their efficacy remains contentious. This study investigates the impact of cooperative membership on maize market participation. A multi-stage stratified random sample of 200 farmers, comprising both cooperative members and non-members, was drawn from towns having functioning maize cooperatives. Data were collected via pre-tested questionnaires and analysed using a probit logistic regression model that accounts for socioeconomic and institutional variables. The findings demonstrate that cooperative participation exerts a substantial influence (β = 1.485, p = 0.102). Nonetheless, it lacks statistical significance at conventional thresholds. This indicates that although cooperative membership may enhance the probability of participating in formal markets, it does not ensure substantial involvement independently. Conversely, variables such as education, income, and employment position serve as more robust markers of engagement. The study indicates that while cooperatives promote collective action, it is essential to enhance governance, digital inclusion, and institutional support to enable effective integration into global value chains.

The national development plan (NDP) clearly states that communities should take initiatives to solve their own problems. One of the socio-economic problems faced by communities in South Africa is the effects of inequality, which is largely the apartheid era is responsible for. In trying to deal with the socio-economic problem of inequality, many communities in South Africa have resorted to forming and running cooperatives in different sectors of the economy. However, these cooperatives are reported to be facing numerous challenges, and in some cases, many of them fail or close down. The challenges mentioned range from a lack of capacity to manage, poor economic performance in the country, heavy reliance on government grants and many others. Despite the challenges faced by cooperatives in South Africa, they are still believed to be a very important tool in dealing with the problem of inequality, which mostly affects rural areas where most of these cooperatives operate. To understand the potential impact of cooperatives in dealing with inequality, this paper uses a qualitative approach. Secondary sources of published information by government agencies and cooperatives themselves will be used, as well as literature published by experts in the area of study. Preliminary findings of the paper are that cooperatives in South Africa are very small in size, and the majority of them are in primary sectors of the economy. If cooperatives are to play a significant role in dealing with inequality, there is a need for them to be capacitated to grow and also participate in upper value chains of the economy.  

This study investigated the impact of healthcare interventions by agricultural cooperatives on women's recovery during the post-COVID-19 period in Kajiado County, Kenya. It explored how agricultural cooperatives address women's recovery in the post-COVID-19 period in Kajiado County. It examined support initiatives for women's recovery, internal healthcare mechanisms targeting women, and cooperative-led interventions in post-COVID-19 recovery. Supported by Social Capital Theory and Empowerment theory, the study focused on Kajiado County. Kajiado County was selected for its cultural diversity and economic activities. Utilizing a mixed-methods research design, the study included a sample size of 373 respondents, members of agricultural cooperatives. The qualitative phase involved interviews and focus groups, while the quantitative data was collected using structured questionnaires. This study employed a combination of stratified random sampling and purposive sampling. Findings were presented through tables, aiming to inform government regulators in policy formulation. The study concluded that women have largely positive perceptions of the healthcare interventions offered by agricultural cooperatives. The findings also suggested a strong positive correlation between women's experiences with healthcare initiatives and their recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The study further concluded that logistical and cultural barriers remain significant obstacles to women's access to healthcare services provided by agricultural cooperatives. Recommending that agricultural cooperatives must develop and implement robust communication strategies to bridge the gap between awareness and actual engagement in healthcare programs for women. The study encourages policymakers to work alongside cooperatives to broaden these programs, create accessible healthcare models that consider rural challenges, and overcome existing logistical and cultural obstacles. By building such collaborative frameworks, these efforts can enhance women’s resilience, support sustainable recovery, and contribute to enduring improvements in community health and economic resilience in rural areas.

Cooperatives are still one of the many solutions offered from the concept of populist economy which was initiated since the time of independence. However, after several years of cooperative existence there are still many cases that have not been successfully handled by the government related to cooperatives that are fraudulent and act criminally against their members. This has made people's trust in cooperatives begin to decline. This study aims to determine the factors that can increase interest in joining members, namely interpersonal skills, organizational image and religiosity. The research method used was structural equation modeling (SEM-PLS) using the Smartpls version 3 application. The results showed that interpersonal skills and organizational image had a significant positive effect on religiosity and intention to join. Furthermore, religiosity mediates the influence between the two independent variables.

The purpose of the study was to assess the influence of marketing innovation on the performance of coffee cooperatives in Kenya. A descriptive research design was applied. The target population of this study was 525 coffee cooperative societies in Kenya registered with the Commissioner for Cooperatives and licensed by AFFA (Coffee Directorate) as of 30th of October 2016. The sample size was 227 respondents. Structured questionnaires were used to collect primary data from the selected respondents. The results revealed that marketing innovation and performance are positive and significantly related (?=0.674, p=0.001). This implied that significant changes in product design and packaging led to a positive change in the performance of coffee cooperatives. The study affirms that to improve performance by targeting the customers, constant improvements in how the company promotes its new products to capture the attention of new customers is a key aspect to be considered. The study recommends the management employ skills in developing clear operating procedures to run the business successfully, coordinate different areas of the business to achieve results and the ability and design jobs to suit staff capabilities and interests.

The programmed co-operative enterprises’ innovation initiatives in Kenya have been below their expectations of customers. The majority (60%) of the customers are satisfied by banking and related financial services offered by co-operative enterprises in Kenya. This is below the expectations of what the customers perceive and what is realized at the point of service delivery. This study sought to provide insights into the relationship between technological innovation promoters and performance by empirically testing the direct effect of technological innovation promoters on performance and exploring the moderation effects of service quality practices. The study is anchored on the promoter theory and collective entrepreneurship concept. The study used a self-administered questionnaire to Chief Executive Officers of 158 Savings and Credit Co-operative Societies (SACCOs). Data were analyzed by employing Statistical Software for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 22 and structural equation modeling using AMOS version 25. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling and hierarchical moderated multiple regression (MMR). Overall, the study found out that, technological innovation promoters have a positive influence on the performance of SACCOs in Kenya, and service quality practices (R2 change) is 0.153. This implied that the moderating effect of service quality practices gained 15.3% variance in the SACCOs above and beyond the variance by technological innovation promoters and performance. This study concludes that an integrative model comprising of technological innovation promoters, service quality practices and performance is a sure way of enhancing collective entrepreneurship and recommends that SACCO management together with their partners should deliberately nurture a customer relationship management culture that will enable them to realize positive performance that has been influenced by service quality practices


 
 
 Investing huge resources in different parts of economic and industrial sectors to increase and promote public welfare and also, provide opportunities for country`s reserves’ growth. Therefore, identifying accurate opportunities for investment is critical, since it helps investors to know the maximum benefits to the economy coupled with the greatest influences in removing the country`s economic problems and difficulties, especially in employment. This article investigates the relationship between investments, employment and the financial performance of the active cooperative enterprises of Fars province in Iran. Based on the considered conditions, 120 firms were selected from the population on the basis of the classified random sampling method during the period 2006-2011. The findings indicate that there is a positive and meaningful relationship between investment and employment in cooperative enterprises. Also, the results show that there is a significant difference among the financial performance of cooperative enterprises in different sectors on the basis of invested capital. Specifically, the increasing investments in agricultural and industrial sectors have led to higher Return On Assets (ROA) ratio.