Cooperatives and the administration of agricultural development in Zambia: the case of matambazi multipurpose cooperative society in petauke district

Abstract

This study examines the role played by Matambazi Multipurpose Cooperatives Society (MFCS) in the admini-stration of the distribution of the agricultural productive resources in the Petauke district of the Eastern Province of Zambia since 1976. The focus is on the resource-delivery system of the cooperative society in order to see how the society facilitates or prevents Access by all the cooperative members to productive resources.The approach used in the study is one which intergrates both those factors which are present in the external environment of the society and in .its internal organisation and functioning in order to explain the performance of the society. An exposition of the nature and pattern of the distribution of resources among members is first attempted in order to show the pre-existing inequities before proceeding to discuss the role of the society in furthering them. It is established that those who have used the society to acquire more resources do actually produce and earn more than those with less or no resources.The study concludes that the cooperative society has not effectively administered agricultural development in the Petauke district of Eastern Zambia. This failure has been caused by constraints emanating from unsuitable and/or inadequate governnent policies and programmes which have not encouraged developmental effort by the society. Rather than attack these constraints, mal¬administration of the society and sheer corruption have accentuated them resulting in the society's failure to effectively deliver agricultural productive resources and the deepening of socio-economic differences among members.