Role of Agriculture Cooperatives to Smallholders: A Review from Farm Sustainability Perspective
Jyoti Dhungana
Agribusiness Expert, Sarbodaya Nepal
Email: jyoti.hohen@gmail.com
Jyoti Dhungana
Agribusiness Expert, Sarbodaya Nepal
Email: jyoti.hohen@gmail.com
Int. J. Grad. Res. Rev. Vol 7(3): 40-49.
Copyright (c) 2022 International Journal of Graduate Research and Review
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Abstract
The cooperative sector plays a significant role to improve the economic condition of rural farmers by providing a range of services. However, farmers fail to get better margin prices than vendors due to poor marketing network. In this context, it is realized to unite the farmers in the cooperative, thereby; they can enhance their production skills and market negotiation power. Thus, this paper seeks to examine the role of agriculture cooperatives, especially in the case of smallholders in Nepal and other developing countries. The secondary data sources from literature, reports, and books were used to synthesize, analyze, and conclude the paper. It focuses on empirical findings concerning the role of agriculture cooperatives to the smallholders from farm sustainability aspects, namely: economic, environmental, and social. Further, the study provides the outline of the status of agriculture cooperatives in Nepal, determinants of farmers joining, and challenges faced by cooperatives. The findings conclude the major roles of cooperatives are: to improve the economic status of the farm in terms of productivity, profit, and income. Social capital formation through cooperatives is vital, together with this; farmers perform sustainable agriculture practices. Despite this, some challenges regarding management, governance, and institutional exist in cooperatives. Ideally, these cooperatives need to be prioritized for capacity development and emphasized to produce market-oriented commodities in order to provide an advantage for smallholders. Moreover, the relationship in different aspects of agriculture cooperatives and farms needs to be further investigated to explore in detail
Keywords: Economics; Empirical; Farmer; Member.
The cooperative sector plays a significant role to improve the economic condition of rural farmers by providing a range of services. However, farmers fail to get better margin prices than vendors due to poor marketing network. In this context, it is realized to unite the farmers in the cooperative, thereby; they can enhance their production skills and market negotiation power. Thus, this paper seeks to examine the role of agriculture cooperatives, especially in the case of smallholders in Nepal and other developing countries. The secondary data sources from literature, reports, and books were used to synthesize, analyze, and conclude the paper. It focuses on empirical findings concerning the role of agriculture cooperatives to the smallholders from farm sustainability aspects, namely: economic, environmental, and social. Further, the study provides the outline of the status of agriculture cooperatives in Nepal, determinants of farmers joining, and challenges faced by cooperatives. The findings conclude the major roles of cooperatives are: to improve the economic status of the farm in terms of productivity, profit, and income. Social capital formation through cooperatives is vital, together with this; farmers perform sustainable agriculture practices. Despite this, some challenges regarding management, governance, and institutional exist in cooperatives. Ideally, these cooperatives need to be prioritized for capacity development and emphasized to produce market-oriented commodities in order to provide an advantage for smallholders. Moreover, the relationship in different aspects of agriculture cooperatives and farms needs to be further investigated to explore in detail
Keywords: Economics; Empirical; Farmer; Member.
