A study of farmers’ perception of cooperative societies was carried out in Enugu State. The
objectives included the establishment of the reasons for joining cooperatives, the extent to which
cooperatives provided the needs of farmer-members in the state and the identification of problems
that hindered the development of farmers’ cooperative societies and the suggested solutions. A total
of 2000 farmers randomly selected from 10 out of the 17 local government areas in the state were
used as respondents for the study. Survey tools used in the study included structured questionnaire,
focus group discussions and interview schedules. Simple analytical tools like tables and percentage
were used to analyze data. Findings showed that most of the farmers (5.25%) that joined
cooperatives did so to attract services from government thereby perceiving cooperatives as
government agency rather than an autonomous business outfit. About 75% of respondents who
joined cooperatives received assistance from government through their cooperatives. Poor
cooperative education and illiteracy were perceived to be the greatest hindrance to growth of
cooperatives in the state. Most respondents (63.71%) agreed that the best way to improve their
perception of cooperatives was through intensified cooperative education programmes.