Participation of Members and the Development of Dairy Cooperatives in Kiambu County

Abstract

This study sought to examine the effect of the adoption of technology on the development of Dairy Cooperatives; evaluate the effect of financial access on the development of cooperatives; find out how managerial skills affect the development of Dairy Cooperatives in Kiambu County and; determine how the participation of members affect the development of Dairy Cooperatives in Kiambu County. Grounded on the Social Capital and Resource-Based Theory, this study adopted the descriptive research design. In this study, the target population was 59,635 registered Dairy Cooperative members while the sample size was 398 respondents who were picked via stratified random sampling. Data collection involved questionnaires that contained 5-point scale Likert-type statements. Descriptive and inferential statistics were carried out. In this case, tests such as central tendency (mean), frequencies, percentages, and standard deviation in addition to Pearson correlation were utilized. The findings show that membership participation had a statistically significant influence on the development of dairy cooperatives (r=.398, p<0.001). These findings lead to the conclusion that increased member subscriptions affected the success of Cooperatives projects. Increasing members’ participation would increase their buy-in of the development projects of the dairy cooperatives; augmenting their sustainability. This would go on to enhance their development. The study recommends that member participation should be strengthened and embedded in all management processes of the dairy cooperatives to enhance their support of projects.