Empowerment Strategies of Cooperative Societies for Poverty Reduction Among Members in Aboh Mbaise Area of Imo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Poverty has become a growing concern to both government and non governmental agencies the world over, because of the daily increase in the number of people affected, despite measures undertaken to reduce or even alleviate it. Various programmes put in place have not adequately addressed poverty concerns as they failed or were abandoned by successive governments. One important avenue believed to be effective is the use and formation of cooperative societies. This study therefore seeks to investigate the empowerment strategies used by cooperatives to reduce poverty among members and the barriers to achieving better socioeconomic status of individual members. The study reveals that cooperatives are a veritable tool for poverty reduction considering the services they render to people. Cooperatives empower people by creating employment for members, facilitate financial services, give members educational support, social protection, marketing services, mutual aids and labour exchange. Cooperatives also ensure that produce is stored for use during hard times to ensure food security. But cooperatives face problems, such as insecure land tenure rights, low literacy rates, poor management/leadership and the lack of micro credit facilities. In recognition of the roles of cooperatives, a policy thrust is needed to finance the formation of agricultural cooperatives, so that resource-poor farmers can access whatever services cooperatives render.