SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF WOMEN COOPERATIVE ORGANIZATIONS AS DETERMINANTS OF THEIR USE OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SERVICES IN SOUTH EAST, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study dwelt on socio-economic characteristics of women cooperative organizations as determinants of their use of Agricultural Extension Services in South East Nigeria, focusing on the socio-economic characteristics of the  members of the women agricultural cooperative  in Southeast, Nigeria and determining the influence of the socio-economic characteristics of the members of the women agricultural cooperatives on their use of Agricultural Extension Services (AES).

To achieve the objective of the study, multistage random sampling technique was adopted to select 399 respondents of women agricultural cooperative members. Primary data was sourced through the use of structured questionnaire. Data collected were analyzed with both descriptive and inferential statistics with the help of SPSS version 23 and strata 14 software. The descriptive statistics used include frequency distribution, percentages, and weighted mean.

The result of hypothesis one revealed that the socio-economic characteristics of the members of the women agricultural cooperative have significant influence on the use of extension services. It is concluded that the socio-economic characteristics of the women had a significant effect on their use of the extension services. The study recommended that; women farmers should hold unto education and training for better understanding of extension services and programmes.