Assessment of Cooperatives in the Poultry Industry - 2013.pdf - Seda

Research Report: Addressing the Needs, Opportunities and Challenges of Cooperatives
and Collectively Owned Enterprises in the Poultry and Related Industries
Training and development have been found to be key constraints to smallholder cooperatives. Lack
of professional and qualified managers is also a challenge facing cooperatives (Department of
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 2012).
Membership in cooperatives is, in many cases, constituted by the elderly who have the will to
produce, but lack the necessary skills and modern methods to produce. This continuously weakens
management, governance and business skills in cooperatives. Inability to attract young professionals
compounds the capacity problems in smallholder cooperatives.
The commission on training and capacity building was facilitated by Ms Kwathi Koka of SEDA. While
acknowledging the contribution of training and capacity building in ensuring effective management
of smallholder cooperatives, this commission also noted the challenges facing smallholder
cooperatives which include the following:
the low literacy levels of cooperatives members
age
lack of management skills
lack of commitment by cooperatives members
Many of these concerns have been identified from the survey above and are confirmed by this
research. A brief identification of the causes for termination of cooperatives (below) also illustrates a
prevalence of membership concerns.
4.1.3.
Non-Operational Cooperatives
The cooperatives contacted for the survey included both operational and non-operational
cooperatives. A total of 40 cooperatives from the database were reachable, with the data from the
28 operational cooperatives being analysed above. The remaining 12 of these cooperatives are no
longer operational. The in-operational cooperatives did, however, provide some background on their
cooperatives and the main reasons for the failure of their businesses. This allows an alternative
perspective on the challenges faced by cooperatives in the poultry industry.
Similarly to what has been identified in the results above, many of the non-operational cooperatives
stated that they were not able to get their business off the ground, due to a lack of equipment and
infrastructure. Figure 4-20 below identifies the reasons cooperatives provided for the failure of their
business.
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