The Regional Training Program on Development and Practices of Agricultural Cooperatives’ Services brought together cooperatives from across Asia and Africa to focus on services provided by agricultural cooperatives to their members. The workshop was inaugurated by Mr. Cai Zhenhong, Vice President of the All China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives.
Participants at the Regional Training Program in Jinan, China.
In Asia Pacific countries, agriculture continues to be the mainstay, in terms of livelihood. However, agriculture today stands at a crossroads. The consequence of population growth, climate change, environmental degradation, soil depletion and bio-diversity loss, land and water scarcity, increasing demand of food, rampant urbanization are leaving resource-poor small-scale farmers in dire straits. Farmers continue to be distressed on account of falling prices, difficulty in repaying loans, non-availability of credit (and insurance), limited access to markets, and a weakening of membership groups (that could provide moral and other forms of support). The aim of many governments in the region is to improve farmers’ income. This can only happen when farmers are kept at the center and their needs looked at in totality. Youth account for a huge percentage of the most vulnerable and affected populations; yet in the development context they are seen as the beneficiaries rather than partners and are not too keen on traditional agriculture.
Agricultural cooperatives play an important role in the development of agriculture and are an integral part of a community’s social structure. Cooperative agricultural production has kept up with global growth, but its share of retail and wholesale is declining. This calls for the need to add value and develop linkages with markets. The workshop looked at agricultural cooperative services not in only in relation to input, purchase, storage, processing, sale, and finance; but also at Comprehensive Land Trust, application of agro-processing technology, use of big data and ecommerce, and practices across the participating countries.
The lessons coming out of the workshop were that while cooperatives are contributing to the development of an agricultural production-base, and helping to strengthen farmers’ household income, there is need to strengthen these by: building capacity of agriculture cooperatives (link producers and consumers, value addition, human resources); promoting trade both through the traditional route and new technologies; and providing a range of value-added services.
