1 min
A cooperative is a group of individuals with common interests and working toward achieving specific objectives. These objectives could differ across cooperatives due to factors such as circumstances the members find themselves (Agbekoya), cultural promotion, social inclusion (women groups), financial inclusion (savings groups), amongst others. These are the motivating factors that connect the members and make them stronger.
The most treasured asset of this group, the cooperative, is their members and the more they are engrossed in the vision of the group, the more successful the cooperative would become. Therefore, for the farmers, cooperative is a means to maximising productivity because of its unique structure and relevance to their goals.
Subsequently, farmers enjoy many benefits as members of cooperatives as their interests are mutual and information sharing becomes easier and relevant. Some of these benefits are: group purchase of inputs, which helps to reduce costs of inputs as resources are pulled together. Also, bargaining power becomes higher for marketing their produce as they could manage large volumes of produce and leverage on that to bargain better prices. Furthermore, it is easier to access credit facilities as individual members can easily cross guarantee themselves, reducing the risks of defaults (which is a turn off to financial institutions) amongst many other benefits.
It is important to note that promoting cooperatives could help provide the needed support for smallholding farmers to transit into full agribusiness operation. This is because the cooperative could provide adequate support through information and knowledge sharing amongst its members during this transition, a sense of community established and the needed social safety net (especially during crisis or when things go wrong) to manage the risks involved during and after the transition would be established.
Therefore, building a successful cooperative is not just a mere wish but a deliberate action of gaining the skills to build and maintain it. So, we need to build the capacity of farmers to identify the needs of the cooperative, understand the various models and adapt the best fit for their objectives, manage the cooperative effectively and ability to scale to provide the needed support to its members efficiently at the different stages of growth. Let us not miss this opportunity to empower our cooperatives, as every farmer needs to be part of a bigger network that can provide the needed social safety net and sense of community to help them achieve better productivity in their operations and more opportunities for their business. As we work towards achieving food security, no farmer should be left behind at any point – United we stand, divided we fall.
Yours-in-Service
Babatunde
Subsequently, farmers enjoy many benefits as members of cooperatives as their interests are mutual and information sharing becomes easier and relevant. Some of these benefits are: group purchase of inputs, which helps to reduce costs of inputs as resources are pulled together. Also, bargaining power becomes higher for marketing their produce as they could manage large volumes of produce and leverage on that to bargain better prices. Furthermore, it is easier to access credit facilities as individual members can easily cross guarantee themselves, reducing the risks of defaults (which is a turn off to financial institutions) amongst many other benefits.
It is important to note that promoting cooperatives could help provide the needed support for smallholding farmers to transit into full agribusiness operation. This is because the cooperative could provide adequate support through information and knowledge sharing amongst its members during this transition, a sense of community established and the needed social safety net (especially during crisis or when things go wrong) to manage the risks involved during and after the transition would be established.
Therefore, building a successful cooperative is not just a mere wish but a deliberate action of gaining the skills to build and maintain it. So, we need to build the capacity of farmers to identify the needs of the cooperative, understand the various models and adapt the best fit for their objectives, manage the cooperative effectively and ability to scale to provide the needed support to its members efficiently at the different stages of growth. Let us not miss this opportunity to empower our cooperatives, as every farmer needs to be part of a bigger network that can provide the needed social safety net and sense of community to help them achieve better productivity in their operations and more opportunities for their business. As we work towards achieving food security, no farmer should be left behind at any point – United we stand, divided we fall.
Yours-in-Service
Babatunde
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