Assessment of leadership effectiveness among the executives and members of farmers’ cooperative societies in Osun State, Nigeria: Implication for agricultural development

Abstract

The study assessed the leadership effectiveness among the executives and members of farmers’ cooperative societies in Osun State, Nigeria. A structured interview schedule was used to gather quantitative data from 50 executives and 75 members of farmers’ cooperative societies across the state. Data were processed through IBM SPSS version 23. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. The findings revealed that the majority (84%, 78.7%) of leaders and members were male and members were male while (98%, 94.5 %) were married with a mean age of 47.46 ± 13.73 and 40.36 ± 10.13 years. Also, the majority of the cooperative leaders emerged through election and mostly selected into leadership position based on active participation in cooperative activites. The majority of the leaders were very effective in leading discussions during meetings (mean=2.90) and managing cooperatives operations (mean=2.63). Also, irregular payment of loans and inadequate trainings were the problems facing leadership effectiveness. Years of farming experience (r= 0.788) and years of cooperative membership (r= 0.731) were significantly related to leadership effectiveness. It is concluded that, in order to enhance leaders’ effectiveness and consequently, agricultural development, capacity building through regular training, and workshops should be organised by relevant stakeholders.

Keywords

• Agricultural development
• Constraints
• farmers’ cooperative leaders
• performance
• socio-economic attributes

Nijerya’nın Osun Eyaletindeki çiftçi kooperatif birliklerinin yöneticileri ve üyeleri arasındaki liderlik etkinliğinin değerlendirilmesi: Tarımsal kalkınmaya etkisi

Öz

Bu çalışmada, Nijerya’nın Osun Eyaletindeki çiftçi kooperatifi derneklerinin yöneticileri ve üyeleri arasındaki liderlik etkinliği değerlendirilmiştir. Eyalet çapındaki çiftçi kooperatiflerinin 50 yöneticisinden ve 75 üyesinden niceliksel veri toplamak için yapılandırılmış bir görüşme programı kullanılmıştır. Veriler IBM SPSS sürüm 23 aracılığıyla işlenmiştir. Verilerin analizinde tanımlayıcı ve çıkarımsal istatistikler kullanılmıştır. Bulgular, lider ve üyelerin çoğunluğunun (%84, %78,7) erkek, üyelerin ise erkek olduğunu, ortalama yaşlarının ise 47,46±13,73 ve 40,36±10,13 yıl olduğunu, (%98, %94,5) evli olduklarını ortaya çıkarmıştır. Ayrıca kooperatif liderlerinin çoğunluğu seçim yoluyla ortaya çıkmış ve çoğunlukla kooperatif faaliyetlerine aktif katılıma dayalı olarak liderlik pozisyonuna seçilmişlerdir. Liderlerin çoğunluğunun toplantılar sırasındaki tartışmaları yönlendirmede (ortalama=2,90) ve kooperatif operasyonlarını yönetmede (ortalama=2,63) oldukça etkili olduğu belirlenmiştir. Ayrıca kredilerin düzensiz ödenmesi ve yetersiz eğitimler de liderliğin etkinliğinin karşılaştığı sorunlar arasındadır. Çiftçilik deneyimi yılı (r= 0,788) ve kooperatif üyeliği yılı (r= 0,731) liderlik etkinliği ile önemli ölçüde ilişkili görülmüştür. Liderlerin etkinliğini ve dolayısıyla tarımsal kalkınmayı artırmak için ilgili paydaşlar tarafından düzenli eğitimler yoluyla kapasite geliştirme ve çalıştaylar düzenlenmesi gerektiği sonucuna varılmıştır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Tarımsal kalkınma
• Kısıtlamalar
• çiftçi kooperatifi liderleri
• performans
• sosyo-ekonomik özellikler

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