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Archives of Business Research – Vol. 10, No. 11
Publication Date: November 25, 2022
DOI:10.14738/abr.1011.13408. Ngala, O. M. (2022). Youth Participation in Agricultural Cooperatives, Post Covid-19 Strategies: A Case of Machakos Coffee Co- operative Societies, Kenya. Archives of Business Research, 10(11). 166-173.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Youth Participation in Agricultural Cooperatives, Post Covid-19
Strategies: A Case of Machakos Coffee Co-operative Societies,
Kenya
Orucho Michael Ngala
The, Cooperative University of Kenya
ABSTRACT
Kenya is a country that is mainly dependent on the agriculture sector for livelihood.
Smallholder farmers through Coffee Cooperative Societies play a central role in
socio-economic development, particularly in agricultural production, processing,
and marketing. The vibrant and dynamic cooperative movement enhances food
security, wealth creation, and poverty eradication. FAO report indicates that youths
in Kenya are a critical component of the productive population and their input can
be harnessed to enhance economic development. However, Kenyan youth has not
actively embraced agriculture, due to the involvement of manual labour and poor
returns. This study sought to establish factors affecting youth participation in coffee
cooperative societies in Machakos County, Kenya. Eighty (80) youth from the eight
(8) coffee cooperative societies working under Sustainability Kenya Limited
Networks -AGRIFI Project in Machakos County were involved in the study. Focus
group discussion (FGD) was adopted to gather in-depth data. Older men’s
domineering culture, lack of succession planning, resource allocation challenges,
and a negative attitude that associates agriculture with the elderly, the poor, the
illiterate, and rural folks, were identified as the main factors impeding active
participation of the youth in coffee cooperative societies. The study observes that
covid-19 has shaken the whole world, setting in motion unavoidable waves of
change, with a wide range of uncertain trajectories in the future. The whole world
has moved drastically toward online channels to cope with pandemic challenges.
The study strongly recommends deliberate attempts to incorporate technology into
agriculture as a strategy of motivating the youth to engage in agriculture and
associated cooperatives, thereby increasing agricultural production. Young people
easily embrace new ideas, experiment with new practices, and are often devoid of
technophobia. They are a potential vital force for innovation in cooperative
societies and can contribute immensely to the well-being of farmers, families, and
to the local communities.
Keywords: youth, agriculture, cooperatives, participation, strategies
INTRODUCTION
Research Problem
More than 70% of the population in Sub-Saharan region is dependent on Agriculture sector for
livelihood. Kenya is an agricultural country (Self Help Africa, 2021). Small holder farmers
through organized farmer organizations and associations such as Coffee Cooperative Societies
and Village women and youth groups, play a central role in the socio-economic development
particularly in agricultural production, processing and marketing. In Kenya, the vibrant and
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Ngala, O. M. (2022). Youth Participation in Agricultural Cooperatives, Post Covid-19 Strategies: A Case of Machakos Coffee Co-operative Societies,
Kenya. Archives of Business Research, 10(11). 166-173.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/abr.1011.13408
dynamic cooperative movement enhances food security, wealth & employment creation and
poverty eradication, and hence improved livelihoods of smallholder farmers (Baka, 2013).
According to State Department of Co-operatives (SDC) and Cooperative Alliance of Kenya
(CAK), the cooperative sector faces challenges associated with poor governance & leadership
practices and financial mismanagement leading to inefficiencies and ineffectiveness in coffee
production & management and marketing (AgriFi Kenya Report, 2018). Baseline study as
reported by the AGRIFI project conceptualization team indicates that youth and women have
been left behind in key decision-making process and coffee value chains, whereas they offer a
great opportunity to change the sector all together. Women can perform between 20% - 25%
more than their counterpart male given the same resources and opportunities as men (FAO,
2015). It is against this backdrop that the study sought to establish the factors which may
influence participation of youths in agricultural cooperative development activities, taking into
consideration the aftermath effects of Covid-19 hence recommend appropriate intervention
strategies to be applied by cooperative boards and governments in strengthening and involving
youths in the mainstream decision making tables.
Objective of the Study
The study objective was to establish factors thatinfluence participation of youths in agricultural
cooperatives hence recommend appropriate intervention strategies to strengthen youth
participation, taking into consideration, the post covid-19 challenges.
METHODS
Research Design
Descriptive research design was adopted in this study. According to Salaria (2012), descriptive
design analyses the present phenomena in terms of conditions, practices beliefs, processes,
relationships or trends invariably. Descriptive survey design is confined to the natural settings
and attempt to interpret phenomenon in terms of the meaning that people bring (Denzin and
Lincoln, 2005).
Population and Sampling Technique
O'Gorman and MacIntosh (2014) refer to a population as any group of institutions, people, or
objects that share observable characteristics. The population involved eighty (80) youths from
eight (8) coffee cooperative societies working under Sustainability Kenya Limited Networks -
AGRIFI Project in Machakos County Kenya. All the 80 youths participated in the study,
constituting a census process.
Data Collection
This paper derived information on three instruments for data collection; structured
questionnaires, focus group discussions and interview. The researcher validated the data
during the collection stage in the field. The main objective was to capture the views, ideas,
perceptions and opinions of the youths that influence their participation in Agricultural
Cooperatives. Focus group discussion was used to identify challenges and brainstorm on
possible practical recommendations on relevant strategies to be adopted by cooperative
societies in order to encourage youth participation in Agricultural cooperatives. A Structured
questionnaire was then constructed and administered to collect data on the relative strength of
each factor constituting the study variables using 5 point Lickert type scale.
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Archives of Business Research (ABR) Vol. 10, Issue 11, November-2022
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Data Analysis
In the first step, focus group discussions and interview were used to establish factors that
influence youth participation is Agricultural Cooperatives. The factors were grouped,
summarized and ranked. In the second stage, regression analysis was used to establish the
relationship between the factors and level of participation in Agricultural Cooperatives. Both
quantitative and qualitative analytical techniques were used to analyze data. Quantitative and
Qualitative approaches may be used within the same framework, guided by a priori, a
posteriori, or iteratively (Onwuegbuzie and Combs, 2010). In this regard, quantitative data was
analyzed using a regression model while qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis.
The regression model was formulates as follows: � = α + β1�! + β2�" + β3�# + β4�$ +
β4�$ + β5�%, Where X1= Older Men’s Domineering Culture, X2= Lack of Succession Planning,
X3=Resource Allocation Challenges, X4= Inadequate Technology adoption, X5= Negative
Attitude.
RESULTS
Response Rate
Table 4.1: Response Rate
Position Count %
Responses 72 90.0
No Response 8 10.0
Total 80 100.0
Out of the targeted 80 respondents, 72 questionnaires were adequately filled and returned
making the overall response rate to be 90 percent as shown in Table 1. The response rate could
be considered adequately unbiased given that Nulty (2008) recommends a response rate of at
least 65%.
Descriptive Results
Factors which featured prominently when all the issues raised during focus group discussions
and interviews were summarized include older men’s domineering culture, lack of succession
planning, resource allocation challenges, inadequate technology adoption and negative attitude
by the youths towards Agricultural activities. Descriptive findings were presented on a five- point Likert type scale with minimum and maximum mean and standard deviation being
generated for ease of data interpretation. Mean scores closer to 5 points indicated a high
magnitude of respondents’ endorsement on the stated factors. High standard deviation
indicated that the responses were highly distributed along the scale.