Cooperative Farming for Agricultural Produce Export in the Southeast Region of Nigeria: Problems and Prospects

This study explores the readiness and willingness of farmers’ cooperative societies to internationalize their offerings by engaging in agricultural produce export and to identify the factors driving these behavioural intents. Being a quantitative survey involving 425 members of vibrant farmers’ cooperative societies in the Southeast region of Nigeria, a structured questionnaire based on the theory of planned behaviour was deployed to generate relevant primary data. Data generation spanned through the period of February 2022 to January 2023.The data were analyzed using the SmartPLS structural equation modeling. Findings indicate that access to finance, facilities and insecurity stand as the major challenge faced by the respondents in internationalization of their offering, while subjective norms and government policies are the major drivers of intent to engage in internationalization. Government policies, access to information, management of cooperatives, and subjective norms are the key positive drivers of intention to export. The study provides, practical and theoretical insights.