CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1   BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Every student requires a particular institutional framework.  One of such framework of the student is the co-operative.  The word co-operative can have different interpretation.  In a layman’s language, it means working together on working mutually.  The second interpretation , which is where the emphasis means a special type of co-operative.  The co-operative has been defined by different schools of thought but the various in the degree of emphasis on one aspect or the other.
The school of thought describes co-operative as business undertaking owned and operated by voluntary associations in order to provide themselves with work and wages or with goods and services.
But the International Co-operative Alliance (I C A) defined co-operative as an autonomous association of persons, limited voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprises.  The role of co-operative in agricultural is an important topic of study but already much has been done by co-operators to justify its prime role of score securing economic and political development particularly in developed countries like England known for consumer co-operatives.  France known for industrial co-operative and Germany known for credit co-operative.  Co-operative movement is world wide phenomenon.  It has developed from simple traditional form(s) of mutual institution  of modern formally organized institution.  This institution gained world wide acceptance because of the grate role.  It has been playing in the economic development of various countries particularly in the developing countries.  The improvement of agricultural production through co-operative inevitable has social effects.  Co-operative management bring better yield which in turn yields better living standard, better housing, better  education for members and their families.  This economic success of co-operative society has been witnessed invaluably in co-operative studies.
In Delta State, most inhabitants survive through and the main occupation is substantial farming, which attracted interest many co-operative societies, both existing ones and new initiated ones.  Improving the agricultural production was their main target and interest and at the same time lifting the level of its individuals.  Improvement target was both in size and qualities were poor and could not be marketed most of the crops having pest scales and most couldn’t grow well in other to produce as expected.  The product that were severely affected were yam tubers, cassava stems and tubers, cocoa yams, vegetables.
1.2   STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Nigeria had embarked on various programmes and  policies  costing hundreds of millions of naira aimed at reviving the depressed agricultural sector.
In view of this, agricultural co-operative was instituted so as to organize the small scale farmers who are still involved in manual labour type of farming in co-operative and had failed to produce enough food for our teeming population thereby the country to be involved in importation of large quantity of food with a huge percentage decline in agricultural exports.
All those governmental effort have not actually had much significant improvement in this sector as much emphasis now being placed on agriculture.  The call for urgent re-examination of the role of these agricultural production sure it’s aim of facilitating the attainment of self-sufficiency in agriculture and making agriculture to take its prime position in the national economy of this country in danger.