By KC Soares, ContributorTHE FORMATION of co-operatives islandwide can play a significant role in moving agriculture forward. Simply put, a co-operative is an organisation that is owned and controlled by a group of persons who uses its products, supplies or services to accomplish more than they could individually.
Small farmers, for instance, benefit from the ability provided by co-operatives to enhance marketing, purchasing and bargaining power. Self-reliance and self-help are the hallmarks of co-operatives.
In the past, co-operatives have been tried among small farmers but they all failed miserably. Why did they fail?
WHY DID THEY FAIL?
While poor management did contribute to their failure, the main reason for failure was the human shortcomings which express themselves in disunity, mistrust and oft times greed.
These qualities tend to retard the progress of the small farmers. For example, there are cases where some farmers want to unite and co-operate for the common good but this is prevented by those other farmers who are individualistic and selfish and do not respect the power and good intent of co-operative efforts.
While these negative human traits are not specific to our people, small farmers can nonetheless learn the lessons of unity and collective effort from the Chinese or the Vietnamese people. In this respect, I wish to share an experience.
While living in Houston, Texas, I attended an interview for a job. The organisation seeking to employ me was owned and managed by a Vietnamese.
During the interview, the telephone rang and the interviewer answered. I could only hear what was being said at his end of the line. I heard him ask the questions when did they arrive and how many? Before hanging up the telephone, he informed the person at the other end of the line that he/she could pick it up anytime after three o'clock.
The job I sought was that of a salesperson and, through curiosity, I asked if the call he received was about sales. He told me no and that some Vietnamese had arrived the night before and were in need of money to restart life.
GOOD CO-OPERATIVE LIFESTYLE
In an effort to resettle them, the other Vietnamese living in Houston have put together money to purchase a home, cars and the basic furniture and appliances needed to furnish a house.
I asked him about how much money is involved. He told me that his group of Vietnamese was trying to raise US$120,000 of which he would be giving US$10,000.
I inquired of him how and when would this money be repaid. He told me that there was no set repayment schedule and even if the money was not repaid, the Vietnamese community would have benefited.
He assured me that acts of this nature were common throughout the Vietnamese community. The Vietnamese have shown significant expansion in Houston to the extent that they control, from an economic point of view, large sections of the city.
How many small farmers would take that approach?
Perhaps some, perhaps none. This is the principle on which co-operatives will have to be built. In structuring co-operatives for success at this time, they will have to be able to adapt to a fast changing era of globalisation, consolidation and technological advancement as well as new processing techniques and consumer preferences.
CRUCIAL MANAGEMENT
The management of these co-operatives is crucial. The common trait of envy and mistrust must be dispelled with from the outset.
It is the management's responsibility to ensure that markets and supplies are assured, achieve economies of scale and gain market power through jointly marketing, bargaining, processing and purchasing supplies and services.
Disunity is divisive and is surely not in the interest of farmers especially at this time when they are faced with the challenges of globalisation.
To be effective and be able to compete in world markets I suggest that co-operatives be grouped into regional entities. There should be three regions headed by a regional manager.
The boundaries of each region could be determined by the counties of Cornwall, Middlesex and Surrey.
Within each region there should be a manager for each individual co-operative. This manager should be able to provide technical assistance as well as financial assistance to the individual members of the co-operative.
The services of subject matter specialists should be accessed whenever necessary as the managers of the co-operatives are not expected to provide all the technical expertise that may be required. With respect to financial assistance, applications to relevant financial institutions should be made by the manager with the co-operative applying as one entity.
As far as marketing, purchasing and distribution are concerned this should be done at the regional level.
K. C. Soares is a former banker and is
now a business consultant with Soledad Financial Services Limited. E-mail: soledad@netcomm-jm.com
