Perceived Effect of Palm Oil Cooperatives in Credit Delivery to Members in Akwa Ibom State

The study assessed the perceived effect of palm oil cooperatives in credit delivery to members in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study described the socio-economic characteristics of the cooperators, examined the perceived effect of cooperatives on economic activities of members, assessed the benefits members derived from cooperative societies, and examined the challenges faced by the cooperators. Sample size of 201 palm oil cooperators were randomly selected using Taro Yamane formula from the list of palm oil cooperative societies in the study area. Data collected were analyzed using percentages, mean, Pearson product-moment correlation, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t-test. The finding shows mean age of cooperators was 46.2 years, the majority (69.2%) were female, married (71.6%), a larger portion (97.0%) had formal education. The mean household size, farming experience and annual income were 6 persons, 9 years and N159,145 respectively. The results showed a positive and significant relationship between cooperative societies and the economic activities of members. Also, the cooperative societies benefit their members by having access to loans. Challenges affecting the cooperative were grouped into socio-economic, organizational and institutional problems. The study recommended among others; that the organization seek better strategies of building their capital, more avenues of internally generated revenue should be exploited to improve on their capital formation rates. Moreso, cooperatives should devise better channel of credit delivery to members in terms of the ability to sustain the loan delivery function.