Proceedings of ACADEMICS WORLD INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND ISBN- 978-93-86083-34-0 an by Upecaamics world Date of Event: 8" August, 2016 Event Co-Sponsored by sR Corporate Address TRAJ Research Forum Institute of Research and Journals Plot No- 161, Dharma Vihar, Khandagiri, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India Mail: [email protected], www.iraj.in Publisher: IRAJ© 2016, academies World international Conference, Auckland, New Zealand No part of this book can be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the publisher. ISBN- 978-93-86083-34-0 ‘Type set & printed by: R.K Printers Bhubaneswar, India About IRAJ Research Forum (IRF)TABLE OF CONTENTS SINo. TITLES AND AUTHORS Page No. 01. Preparation of Pro-Thrombotic Platelet-Like Nanoparticles For Vaseular Targeting 1 > Zhenjun Zhao, Magdalena Lam, Liven Liang, Nicole G. F. Vella, Lucinda Merobb, Marcus Stoodley 02, Sustainability of Youth Involvement in Palm Oil Seetor 26 % Suhana Saad, Sivapatan Selvadural, Mohd Khairal Anwar Isnin, Nur Hana Basaruddin, Nur Hanant Mansor ‘The Effectiveness of Oil Palm Integration Practices in Increasing The Oil Palm 7-11 ‘Smallholders' Income > Zaimah, R., Sarmila, MS. Novel Lyndon, Mohd Yusof Hussain, Kamil acmi Tohiran, Raja zulkifi Raja omar, Nursuhana dahari, Hasmiza desa 04 The Contribution of Co-Operative Organizations to The Oil Palm Smaltholders 12-17 Communities’ Economic Development: Case Study of A Sustainable Oil Palm Cultivation Co-Operative In Malaysia % Sarmila MS, Novel Lyndon, Sivapalan Selvadurai, Rosnizaacnie Che Rose Nazirah Jaafar, Khairul Anwar fsrin 05. Concrete Mixture With Plastic As Fine Aggregate Replacement 18.22 > Chien-Chung Chen, Nathan Jaffe, Matt Koppitc, Wesley Welmer, Albert Polocoser| 06, Influence of The FLC'S Parameters of The UPQC in The Distributed Generation 23.28 > C.Benachalba, B. Macari, M. Habab, C.Benoudjafer, N. M. Tandjaoui 07. Impact of Plant Height And Irrigation on Thermal Performance of Extensive Green 29-35 Roofs in Riyadh City > Ashraf Muharam, Elsayed Amer, Nasser Al-Hemiddi 07, Am Analysis OF Mobile Banking Customers For A Bank Strategy And Policy 36-42 Planning > Belroo: Noort 08 Advantage OF Make-To-Stock Strategy Based On Linear Mixed-Effect Model est > YwPin Liao, Shin-Kuan Chiu taeTHE CONTRIBUTION OF CO-OPERATIVE ORGANIZATIONS TO THE OIL PALM SMALLHOLDERS COMMUNITIES’ ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT:A CASE STUDY OF A SUSTAINABLE OIL PALM CULTIVATION CO-OPERATIVE IN MALAYSIA 'SARMILA M.S, “NOVEL LYNDON, 'SIVAPALAN SELVADURAI, ‘ROSNIZAAZNIE CHE ROSE, SNAZIRAH JAAFAR, "KHAIRUL ANWAR ISNIN School of Social Development and Environmental Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, ‘National University of Malaysia, 43600 Bangi Selangor. **Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), No 6 Persiaran Insttusi Bandar Baru Bangi, 43000 Kajang Selangor E-mail: '[email protected] Abstract— Aco-operative is an altemative model of an organization thats able to meet the local community's needs. ‘Therefore, co-operativeorganizatonsare instrumental inenhancing the community's development. The purpose of this study \wasto assess the economic contributions byco-operatives 10 the oil palm smallholder’s communities. A case study was conducted and 40 members of the Sustainable Oil Palm Cultivation Co-operative (SPOCC) in Temerioh district Malaysiapaticipated as respondents.Questionnaires were distributed asan instrument of data collection and the descriptive analysis was conducted including. analysis of mean, frequency. percentage and standard deviation. The study found that SPOCC contributedin marketing the crops, increasingthe oil palm smallholders’ ineomeand their access to farming inputs. However, the contribution inthe aspect of accessibility to loan and capital, weehnology and infrasiructureneed to be improved. Thus, this study findsthe co-operatives potential roles in the economic development efforts for the of! palm smallholders’ communityand its rooms for improvement in ensuring the sustainability of the smallholders in the industry ‘Keywords— Co-operative, Economie Contribution, Smallholder, Community Development 1. INTRODUCTION agriculture sector (Tortia 2013).Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the contributions of A co-operative refers to an organizationthat requires a the agricultural co-operative organizations in collective and voluntary involvement of individuals enhancing the economic activities of its for the purpose of achieving goals which cannot be membersusing the Temerloh district Sustainable Oil achieved individually (ICA 1996; Fairbairn 2003; Palm Cultivation Co-operative (SPOCC)Malaysia as Bibby Shaw 2005; Kumar et al 2015).Therefore, a cor the case study. operative is seen as an alternative model to meet thelocal community's development needsin_I1. AGRICULTURAL CO-OPERATIVE AND eradicating poverty and solvingtheir problems (the THE COMMUNITY'S ECONOMIC. ‘cooperative Commission of Malaysia; Zeuli 2002; DEVELOPMENT Prakash, 2003; Ortmann King 2007; Nugussie2010; ‘Tomaquin. 2014).Community’s participation in co- agriculture has become one of the ‘operatives is seen as an enabler for them to be engines in developing the economy (Kumar et al actively engaged in the economic activities to 2015). According to the International Labour ‘maximize the use of local resources for development Organization (ILO) (2015), agricultural co-operative purposes (Innocent 2014, co-operative Alliance, wasestablished to eradicatepovertyin local 1996). communities such as Egypt, Tanzania and, In Malaysia, the total number of co-operative Utopia.Among others, itis instrumental in establishments have shown an increase based on the assistingthe farmers solve injustice problems in statistic from the Co-operative Commission of — themarket competition withbigger playersandhelp to Malaysia (SKM).The number of registered co- improve the rural population’s economic situation ‘operatives in 2013 was 10,914 compared to 10,087 in (Pischke2004).Agricultural co-operatives are 2012.These numbers include banking, credit, classified into three categories according to the main agriculture, housing, consumer, industrial, _activitiesconducted namely, marketing of agricultural construction, transport and services co- products co-operative, plantation supplier co operatives.Based on the statisties, the increment in operative, and agricultural service co-operative number of co-operativesalso occurred in the (Tortia 2013), agricultural industry, from 2,318 in 2013 to 2,547 in 2014 (the Co-operative Commission of Malaysia 2./.Loans and Capital Assistance 2015). The Agricultural Co-operative was referred to According to astudy by Kareem (2012), the co- fas one of the most important organizations in the operative organization in Ijebu, Nigeria was Proceedings of Academies World International Conference, Auckland, New Zealand, 8 August 2016, ISBN: 978-93-86083-34-0 2‘The Conntuon of Co-Operative Oraniztons oth hPa Slee Communities Econ Developmen: A Cate Stay of Satna Palm ‘Calvan CoOperave m Maya successful inproviding loans formembers to start theirbusinesses, In agriculture industry, loans. to farmers are needed and studies found that the loan assistance by co-operativeswas able to help enhancethe farmers'agricultural activities and its products (Awotide et al. 2012).The co-operative ‘organizations’abilityto provide credit to its members was recognized by the United Nation (2009). The credit support was intended to help farmersobiain the farms’ source ofinputsand structuringthe farms’ invigation system.Ibitoye (2012), found that co operatives in rural areas had been working with various credit services to help their members. tt is due to the farmers” need to obtain various resources for their agricultural capitals (Andrew 2015) hence the communities’ involvement in co-operative _ is expected to solve their problem related to the capital need, 2.2.Marketing the Yields Co-operatives werealso found to be instrumental in providing the marketfor farmers to increase the ‘members’ revenues. The main objective of setting up the agricultural co-operatives by the farmers is to increase the agriculture products which will indirectly provide opportunities for them to engage directly in ‘marketing their products through the co-operative (Zarafshani et al 2010).In providing the market for agriculture product, the agricultural co-operatives will be ableto obtain a more stable price compared to prices in the other markets, Thus, it enables the market {0 provide more incentives to the community.For example, in Affica, agricultural co- operatives had been promoting economic exchange activities by developing the market in rural areas.The provision of these markets was able to reduce transaction costs and promote participation and integration ofthe small holders to a wider sub- ‘economy (United Nations, 2009), In Egypt, the study by Farahat Abdel (2014), found that by providing the marketing opportunities, co- ‘operatives can help the community to market their products at a better price, Therefore, the establishment of a co-operatives can be seen as an effective approach in addressing market failureandstimulates the economic development and indirectly provide better space to the small scale producersin the community (Henehan et al. 2011), Hence,community’sco-operative was formed to offer marketing services to its members and indirectly improved competition in the agricultural sector. The circumstances allow smallholders to gain a better chance to compete through co-operatives, andmaximize their profits through in-bulk sales and ppurchases(Innocent et al 2014,Zeuli 2002), 2.3.Farming Technology In Korea, the study by Jae-Hak Choi (2006), found that co-operativeshad helped the farmers’ community to maintain their production and product quality throughnew technologies introduced tothe ‘community. The introduction of newtechnologies was able to satisfy both parties namely, the manufacturers and consumers. This situation is in line with the views of the United Nations (2009) statingthat research and. development in agricultural techniques can help the community develop =the =——_agriculture industry. Therescarch and development in technology will enable members to adopt new agricultural technology and indirectly will give impact to the inerease in the farmers'crop production. Nurjihan Idris et al. (2013) agreed thatusage of new technologies increase the agricultural production and the technology introduced by the co-operative is expected to be able to increase the quality of the community's supply andproduet. Accordingly, this situation can help increase the farmers! productivity (Kolade and Harpham 2014), 2.4, Increase in Income Co-operatives areseen to. providepositiveimpact in increasing the income of its members. Through the research conducted by Ibitoye et al (2012), c0- ‘operatives can help their members in increasing their revenues through the economic activities of the co- operative. These activities will contribute improving the community's living standard.In Tesfay's opinion (2013), the assistance to increase the income could be done by providing members with financial facilities and mechanismsin enhancing thecommunity’s bargaining power against the suppliers.Hence, community’s participation in co- operatives. is seen able to reduce poverty in the rural areas through provision of capital assistance and loans by the co-operatives to their members (Kareem 2012), Co-operative is also instrumental in providing employment opportunities tothe rural ‘communities.Indieetly it contributes to the socio- economic development in rural areas(Muhammad Shehu’s2014). This will also allowimprovements in the communities! economy and reduce the poverty problem. Farahat Abdel (2014), had seen this effort from the point of a co-operative implementationto develop a project collectively or together with the community's project.This situation is also seen as targeting. at improving the members’ economic and social standard. Besides helping to reduce costs and improve the quality of local government's services.co-operatives can help local communitiesto maintain their power which serves as a platform to provide both purchasing and marketing functions to the local communities.Indirectly, it will give Positiveimpactto the local community's economy 2.5, Aecess 10 the Plamationinput In the plantation sector, co-operatives has assisted in providing input to the farmers’community production.Input assistance provided by the co- Proceedings of Academics World International Confrence, Auckland New Zealand, 8 August 2016, ISBN: 978-93-86083-34-0 B‘The Contibuin of Co-Operave Organizations oe Oi Pan Solder Commis’ Eemnemie Development A Case Study of Susana Ol Pa Calan CoOperie Nay operatives (0 the Tarmerswere fertilizers, pesticides, plantation machineries and seedlings. Agricultura Input can help farmers in the implementation of the cultivation processes while maintaining its quality through fertilizers and pesticides(Farahat Abdel 2014, Ibitoye et.al. 2012,Zeuli2004)) Through studies conducted by Ortmann and King (2007), in South Arica, it wasfound that co-operatives play important roles inthe plantation sector by commercializing the agricultural sector through provision of agricultural inputs such as seeds of crops. 2.6 Agriculture Infrastructure and Facilities Co-operative organizations hadbeen assisting their ‘members in providing agricultural infrastructures and facilities. According to Nguyen Mau Dung (2011), through his research in agricultural co-operatives in Vietnam, it was foundthat the co-operative in Bac inch area provides farming infrastructures such as fencing whichwas designed to protect the farmers” farms. In addition, the co-operatives in Vietnam also provide water and reservoirs to facilitate farmers in watering ther plants. Accordingly, a study’ conducted by Ibitoye (2012) in Kogi Nigeria found that the co- operative provides storage for farmers’ crops, which aims to facilitate the farmers in the process of harvesting their produce 2.7 Research Method ~ Case Study The establishment of Sustainable Palm Oil Cultivation Cooperative (SPOCC) is a programme under the Sustainable Palm Oil Cluster (SPOC) of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB). SPOC’s ‘objective is to ensure that smallholders produce sustainable palm oil through management of oil palm production. SPOCC’s membership is offered to oil palmsmallholders who plantedoil palmon land areasless than 40-46 hectares. The main objective of SPOCC is to bring the smallholders together so that they can carry out activities or projects for their common benefit. There were 22 SPOCCS established until 2012 in some of the states. in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak. Temerloh’sSPOCC was registered on 1". July 2011 which covers 10 areas in the Temerloh district namely Jenderak,Kerdau, Lebak, Lipat Kajang, Mentakab, Perak, "Sanggang and Damansara. SPOCC administrative office is located at Kampung Paya Soh, 50km from Temerioh town and 40km_from erantuttown.Up to the end of 2015, SPOCC ‘Temerioh has 64 members. This. study was conducted among the oil palm smaltholders who are members ofTemerloh’sSPOCC.It was conducted using the quantitative approach with survey methods. Questionnaire wasused as the data collection instrumentand has been distributed to all 64 members of Temerloh SPOCC.As a result, 40 out of 64oil palm farmersbecame the respondents. The questionnaire was divided into two partsPart A is related to the demographic information of the respondents andPart B has six components which measure the co- operative’ seconomie contributions, namely, oan and capital assistance, market of their farms" produce, access to farming inputs, income improvement, farming technology and agriculture’ sinfastructure assistance.The data obtained were descriptively analyzed by looking at the percentage and average mean and standard deviation with the help of SPSS software. IIL, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 3.1. Respondents’ Background Table I shows the respondents’ demographic information.Based on the information, the study found that male dominated in the number of the cooperative’s membership.Majority of the SPOCC’smembers belong to the age group of 50 to {60 years (40%) while those within the age less than 40 years were just 2.5%Majority of the members have income in the range of RM1,000 to RM2,000 (80%) while the rest were around RM3,000. to RM4,000 (20%) per month Majority of them are cultivating oi! palm on private land (67.5%), the remaining are on family land (17.5%) and lease land (158%). ‘Table 1: Respondent's Background Profile | Frequency | Percent Geer | Male | 100 Respuents"age 3040 years 1 25 41-50 years 16 400 51-60 yeas 318 61-70 years 200 Respondents Income: | RML000- x | 00 RNZ000 | RM3000- s | 200 R000 - Respondents land sta: Selfown n os Lease 6 180 Fam and 1 178 3.2. Beonomic ‘members The study examines SPOCC’seconomic contributions tothe community members through an_ increase inincome, access to farming inputs, marketing of products, loan and capital assistance, farming, technology and crop’s infrastructure assistance elements (Refer to table 2) contributions for community ‘Proceedings of Academics World Inernational Conference, Auckland, New Zealand. 8* August 2016, SBN: 978-93-86083.34.0 4“The Comitaon af Co-Operative Onision oth Pal Smads Communit’ Economic Development A Cas Sindy Sonate OM Palm ‘Clean CoOpeatvem Mays Table 2:Eeonomie Contribution for the Oil Palm ‘Smallholders. Tem 3.3 Increase in Small Holders Income The increase in income’s element has shown the highest mean score (4.45) compared to. other economic contribution elements.Review of items which represent these elements found that items related to assistance in improving agricultural products through the inerease in production of fresh fruit bunches (FFB), assistance in obtaining MPSO certification and the co-operative’s effort to increase ‘members’ income has contributed a high mean score between 4.55-4.57 respectively. The study is in line withfindings by Tesfay etal (2013), that co-operative was able to play a role in increasing thelocal community's income through an increase in production and sales. The study also agrees with Thitoye et.Al (2012) and Kareem (2012) that participation in co-operative could help increase their revenues and improves ther living, 44 Access to Farming Inputs ‘SPOCC had provideda good access to the plantations supply input where the mean average yield recorded a value of 4.26.Access to the agricultural input was represented by the itemof access to crops fertilizer (mean = 4.02), facilities of seedlings (mean = 4.32), pesticides (mean = 4.30), assistance by the co- operative’s management in obiaining quality plantation inputs (mean ~ 4.45) in addition to the information related to access to farming inputs to small holders (mean = 4.52):The oil palm smallholdersacknowledged that quality fertilizer can help increase the revenue of FFB (mean = 4.45), although the price of fertilizers offered by the co- ‘operative to its members is relatively high (mean 3.82). The results of this study are consistent with the results of the study conducted by Farahat Abdel 2014) indicating that co-operative can help the community by providing assistance through access to agricultural inputsand the results in this study include crop fertilizers, seeds and pesticides. The result also showed a high score for assistance by co-operative on information related to farming inputs. 3.5 Marketfor Farming Produce Review of the co-operative's assistance in terms of farming_productsmarketing found that the average value of mean is 4.22.Details of items representing the product. market assistance found that theoil pplmsmallholders agreed that the co-operative has helped members by providing a complete infrastructure to enable them to carry out the process of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) collection (mean = 4.15) and assist in salesof FFB (mean = 4.17)-The smallholders agreed that the co-operative has helped enable a more efficient FFB collection process (mean = 4.52) and the co-operative has offered a higher and stable purchase price of FFB (mean = 4.07)The overall analysis result of these elements coincide with ‘what was stated by the United Nations (2009) that the provision of product’smarket space allows the co- ‘operative to offer better prices to the community members. Hence,the smallholders’ viewed that the offered price of FFB by the co-operative is higher and stable has shown a relatively high mean score, mean 4007. 4.6 Loans and Capital Assistance Crops" foan and capital assistance offered by SPOCC to SMEs show a mean average score of 3.06, Details of the analysis found that item which tested the loan provided by SPOCCto startn crop cultivation had a low score (mean=2.70), thesmallholders disagree with the yearly offer of loans from the co-operative (mean = 3.42).However, the smallholders do not indicate a high score withthe statement that they can obtain loan (mean ~ 3.42) and assistance (mean 3,52) from other agencies The finding on items that co-operative assis in channeling capital assistance to smallholders (mean = 2.62) and capital resources are abianed from the co-operative (mean ~ 2.72) were tow. ‘The results indicated that SPOCC in Temerioh distit was notable to assist the community members who are oi] palm smallholders with the crops’ loan and capital assistance. Hence, this study showsa different result from the research conducted. by Awotide etal. (2012) in Ogun, Nigeria who found that one of the co-operative's contribution is to provide assistance and loan to its members. The stady is contrasting with the views by Kareem (2012) that there is capital provided by the co-operatives for their members 4.7 Farming Technology The study found that the average mean value for the contributions of plantation technology by co- ‘operation is 3.35. The item that test on small holders technology usage in cultivation activities shows mean score 3,00.ltem stating that through co-operative the small holders will be introduced to new technologies and the new technology will help them maintain the quality also show a moderate mean score of 3.55 3.52, respectively. The readiness of palm oil smal holders in accepting new technology is also moderate (mean = 3.35) This finding indicates that SPOCC has yet able to contribute in farming technology to the ‘small holders. This is contrasting to an explanation by the United Nations (2009) stating that co-operative is able to contribute to the community through research and development of new technology for the purpose Procediags of Academics World ternational Conference, Auckland New Zealand, 8 August 2016, ISBN: 978-93-86083-34.0 1s“The Cannan of Co-Operative Onanizatons oth Pan Sales Communities’ Economic Devslapmest A Cate Sy of Sati Pan ‘operatives to the farmerswere fertilizers, pesticides, plantation machineries and seedlings.Agricultural input can help farmers in the implementation of the cultivation processes while maintaining its quality through fertilizers and pesticides(Farahat Abdel 2014, Ibitoye et al, 2012,Zeuli2004)),Through studies conducted by Ortmann and King (2007), in South Arica, it wasfound that co-operatives play important roles in the plantation sector by commercializing the agricultural sector through provision of agricultural inputs such as seeds of crops, 2.6 Agriculture Infrastructure and Facilities Co-operative organizations hadbeen assisting, their members in providing agricultural infrastructures and facilities. According 10 Nguyen Mau Dung (2011), through his research in agricultural co-operatives in Vietnam, it was foundthat the co-operative in Bac Ninch area provides farming infrastructures such as fencing whichwas designed to protect the farmers’ farms. In addition, the co-operatives in Vietnam also provide water and reservoirs to facilitate farmers in ‘watering their plants. Accordingly, a study conducted by Ibitoye (2012) in Kogi Nigeria found that the co- ‘operative provides storage for farmers’ crops, which aims to facilitate the farmers in the process of harvesting their produce. 2.7 Research Method ~ Case Study The establishment of Sustainable Palm Oil Cukivation Cooperative (SPOCC) is programme under the Sustainable Palm Oil Cluster (SPOC) of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB). SPOC's objective is to ensure that smallholders produce sustainable palm oil through management of oil palm production. SPOCC’s membership is offered to oil palmsmaltholders who. plantedoil _palmon land areasless than 40-46 hectares. The main objective of SPOCC is to bring the smallholders together so that they can carry out activities or projects for their ‘common benefit. There were 22 SPOCCS established until 2012 in some of the states in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak. Temerloh'sSPOCC was registered on 1% July 2011 which covers 10 areas in the —Temerloh district namely Jenderak,Kerdau, Lebak, Lipat Kajang, Mentakab, Perak, Sanggang and Damansara. SPOCC administrative office is located at Kampung Paya Soh, Sokm from Temerloh town and 40km_ from Jerantuttown.Up to the end of 2015, SPOCC “Temerloh has 64 members This study was conducted among the oil palm smallholders who are.——_-members offemerloh’sSPOCC.It was conducted using. the quantitative approach with survey methods. Questionnaire wasused as the data collection instrumentand has been distributed to all 64 members of Temerloh SPOCC.AS a result, 40 out of 64ail palm farmersbecame the respondents. The questionnaire was divided into two partsPart A is related to the demographic information of the respondents andPart B has six components which measure the co- ‘operative'seconomic contributions, namely, loan and capital assistance, market of their farms’ produce, access to farming inputs, income improvement, farming technology and agriculture'sinfrastructure assistance. The data obtained were descriptively analyzed by looking at the percentage and average mean and standard deviation with the help of SPSS software, III, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 3.1. Respondents’ Background Table 1 shows the tespondents’ demographic information.Based onthe information, the study found that male dominated in the number of the ccooperative's membership. Majority of the SPOCC’smembers belong to the age group of 50 t0 60 years (40%) while those within the age less than 40 years were just 2.5%Majority of the members hhave income in the range of RMI,000 to RM2,000 (80%) while the rest were around RM3,000. 10 RM4,000 (20%) per month Majority of them are cultivating oil palm on private land (67.5%), the remaining are on family land (17.5%) and lease land. (15%). ‘Table 1: Respondent's Background [Profile Frequency | Percentage Genter |__ Mate 40 7 | Respondents” age | Souoyers | 25 4LS05ears | 400 51-60 years Is 318 61-70 years 8 200 Responten Income RMI000- 2 800 RM2000 RZO00- 8 200 RMA000 Respondents land status: Selfown n 615 Lease 6 in| Family ld 7 ns 3.2. Economic contributions for community members The study examines SPOCC’seconomic contributions tothe community members through an_ increase inincome, access to farming inputs, marketing of products, loan and capital assistance, farming technology and crop's infrastructure "assistance elements (Refer to table 2) Proceedings of Academics Werld International Conference, Auckland, New Zealand, 8° August 2016, ISBN: 978-93-86083.34.0 u‘The Conntton of Co-Operative Organieins th Pa Slaldrs Communi’ Economie Delon: A Cate Sty of Susana Oi Palm Clan Co-Operation Successful inproviding loans formembers to start theirbusinesses. In agriculture industry, loans. to farmers are needed and studies found that the loan assistance by co-operativeswas able 10. help enhancethe farmers'agricultural activities and its products (Awotide et al. 2012).The co-operative ‘organizations'abilityto provide credit to its members was recognized by the United Nation (2009). The credit support was intended to help farmersobtain the farms’ source ofinputsand_sructuringthe farms’ inrigation system.tbitoye (2012), found that co- operatives in rural areas had been working. with various credit services to help their members. is due to the farmers’ need to obtain various resources for their agricultural capitals (Andrew 2015) hence the communities’ involvement in co-operative is ‘expected 0 solve their problem related to the capital need. 2.2.Marketing the Yields Co-operatives werealso found to be instrumental in providing the marketfor farmers to increase the ‘members’ revenues.The main objective of setting up the agricultural co-operatives by the farmers is to increase the agriculture products which will indirectly provide opportunities for them to engage directly marketing their products through the co-operative Zarafshani et al 2010).In providing the market for agriculture product, the agricultural co-operatives will be ableto obtain a more stable price compared to prices in the other markets, Thus, it enables the market to provide more incentives to the community.For example, in Africa, agricultural co- ‘operatives had been promoting economic exchange activities by developing the market in rural areas.The provision of these markets was able to reduce transaction costs and promote participation and integration ofthe small holders toa wider sub- ‘economy (United Nations, 2009), In Egypt, the study by Farahat Abdel (2014), found that by providing the marketing opportunities, co- ‘operatives can help the community to market their products at a better price, Therefore, the establishment of a co-operatives can be seen as an effective approach in addressing market failureandstimulates the economic development and indirectly provide better space to the small scale producersin the community (Henehan etal. 2011). Hence,community'sco-operative was formed to offer marketing services to its members and indirectly improved competition in the agricultural sector. The circumstances allow smallholders to gain a better chance to compete through co-operatives, andmaximize their profits through in-bulk sales and purchases(Innocent etal 2014,Zeuli 2002), 2.3.Farming Technology In Korea, the study by Jae-Hak Choi (2006), found that co-operativeshad helped the farmers’ community to maintain their production and product quality throughnew technologies introduced tothe community. The introduction of newtechnologies was able to satisfy both parties namely, the manufacturers, ‘and consumers. This situation isin tine with the views of the United Nations (2009) statingthat research and, development in agricultural techniques can help the community develop the agriculture industry. Theresearch and development in technology will enable members to adopt new agricultural technology and indirectly will give impact to the increase in the farmerserop production. Nurjhan Idris, et al. (2013) agreed thatusage of new technologies will increase the agricultural production and the technology introduced by the co-operative is expected to be able to increase the quality of the community’ supply andproduct. Accordingly, this situation can help increase the farmers’ productivity (Kolade and Harpham 2014). 24, Increase in Income Co-operatives areseen to providepositiveimpact in increasing the income of its members.Through the research conducted by Ibitoye et al (2012), co- ‘operatives ean help their members in increasing their revenues through the economic activities of the co- operative, These activities will contribute in improving the community's living standard.In ‘Tesfay's opinion (2013), the assistance to increase the income could be done by providing members with financial facilities and mechanismsin enhancing thecommunity’s bargaining power against the suppliers.Hence, community's participation in co- ‘operatives. is seen able to reduce poverty in the rural areas through provision of capital assistance and loans by the co-operatives to their members (Kareem 2012) Co-operative is also instrumental in providing, employment opportunities tothe rural communities.Indirectly it contributes to the socio- economic development in rural areas(Muhammad Shehu’s2014). This will also allowimprovements in the communities’ economy and reduce the poverty problem. Farahat Abdel (2014), had seen this effort from the point of a co-operative implementationto develop a project collectively of together with the community's project.This situation is also seen as targeting at improving the members’ economic and social standard, Besides helping to reduce costs and improve the quality of government's services,co-operatives can help local communitiesto maintain their power which serves as a platform to provide both purchasing and marketing functions 10 the local communities.Indirectly, it will give positiveimpactto the local community's economy 2.5. Access to the Plantation Input In the plantation sector, co-operatives has assisted in providing input to the farmers'community production.Input assistance provided by the co- Proceedings of Academies World Imernational Conference, Auckland, New Zealand, 8% August 2016, ISBN: 978-93-86083-34.0 BThe Cotton of Co-Operative Opinions 1 the Oi Pam Sders Communit Economie Develo: A Cate Study os SusnateO Pln (Catan Co-Operative Masta of facilitating the community and increasing the production. Accordingly, the result docs not potray similar situation in Korea explained by Jae-Hak Choi (2006), where co-operatives assistthe farmer's ‘community to maintain their production and the Product quality through the new technologies introduced 3.8 Agriculturallnfrastructure and Facilities Assistance Analysis of findings related to crops’ infrastructure and facilites provison show the lowest average mean score of 2.52 compared to the other elements being tested.On average, scores for items surveyed, namely terrace land preparation assistance, drainage, bridge culverts, fences in farms’ areas, equipment and waste disposal obtained scores between 2.5 up to 2.7.The study shows that crop's infrastructures and facilities provided by the co-operative to oil palm small holders community are still poor. This situation has not been able to challenge Nguyen Mau Ding(2011) and Ibitoye’s studies (2012)whichfound that co- operative provides infrastructure assistance 10 facilitate its members. CONCLUSION Deriving from the study's results and from the co- operative members’ perspectives, it was found that SPOCC Temerloh has helped in increasing. the members’ income:The contribution is through assistance in marketing of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) to the manufacturers by offering beter prices than the prices offered by private buyers.Co-operatives have also contributed in enabling the oil palm farmers to gain access to agricultural inputsparticularly in sourcing quality fertilizers and seedlings supplies.According to Farahat Abdel (2014) and Tortia (2013), both elementshad helpedincreased the smallholders” produce as viewed by Nurjihan Idris et al, 2013) tha the role of co-operatives in assisting to market the farmers! commodity will increase their income. In terms of infrastructure and facilities, the eo- ‘operative’s members view thatthe contribution is stil poor.Only the provision of fruit collection area and the preparation of the farms’ office was agreed to be well contributed by the co-operative Other infrastructures such as drainage system, bridge culverts and water storage containers have yet to be contributed by the co-operative Findings ofthe study clearly show thatSPOCC Temerloh is not eligible to be categorized as a service co-operative as stated by Oriman (2007). addition, the study also found that SPOCC iis stil unable to’ provide loan and capital assistance to the members even thoughthe assistance is considered important to the farmers needs (Andrew 2015).The co-operative's efforts to. work withthe credit services agencies as stated by Ibitoye (2012) should be given attention for this ease study to help in improving SPOCC’sfinancial and capital assistanceto the smallholders Based on the findings of this case study, the co- operative organization hasthe potential to become an altermative organization in the effort to boost the community's economic development. It can be done by assistingthe community to increase the income through the efforts of managing erops’production and marketing.However, there are other aspects that rneededto be given attention to improve the level of contribution such as the infrastructure which is one of the key elements in the development of aj and rural communities.It is also similarin terms of agriculture technology contribution. Both aspects are very important to ensure that the inerease in earnings achieved by the farmers will continue in the future through aninereasein capacity that can be achieved ‘with good infrastructure and technology. ACKNOWLEDGMENT. ‘The authors gratefully acknowledge UKM-MPOB Endowment that supported this research under EP- 2014-015 research grant. REFERENCES, D Andrews, AM, “Report survey of eo- opertivecaptal International Co-operative Alliance, 2015 P] Avotide, DO. 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