FUNCTIONING PROBLEMS OF AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES: GREEK CASE AND LESSONS FOR UKRAINE (original) (raw)
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International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 2020
Cooperation and in addition the creation of cooperatives and cooperative companies in the agricultural sector influence the effort of small farmers to survive in conditions of increased competition. Farmers are in many cases considered "small" entrepreneurs compared to their counterparts in other sectors of the economy. Therefore, the need for survival leads most of the farmers to unite in order to gain bargaining power. Agricultural cooperatives were and remain the only mechanism for gaining bargaining power of small and weak producers, which is the main reason for creating cooperatives. Due to their historical process, we can understand their role in the development of the Greek economy. Finally, the study of their problems in last year’s presents the need for the planning of a modernized cooperative model, based on the most important principles of social economy.
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Background: The subject of the study in the present work was the correlation of the development of the agricultural sector with the operation of agricultural cooperatives. Considering the importance of the agricultural sector with its big and small problems, the role of agricultural cooperatives in the development of this sector is identified. As it was found from the Greek literature, the agricultural cooperatives in Greece, offered technical and material assistance to the Greek farmers, helped in the economic recovery of the local communities, helped significantly in the operation of the agricultural products market, undertook activities of utilization of agricultural production and in many cases also competed with private companies. Methods: The model chosen for the analysis is the input-output analysis method which measures the economic impact that companies have on their local economies. In this case it concerns the change of production from the various companies belonging to t...
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AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES IN THE ROMANIAN AGRI-FOOD SYSTEM
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In the recent years, agricultural markets and supply chains have been quite strongly affected, in an unprecedented geopolitical and economic context, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, climate change and the challenges of implementing the European Green Deal. Under these conditions, food has once again emerged as a central element of life, alongside health, and healthy eating for all depends more on social and economic conditions than on the technical aspects of food production and processing. Thus, the need to rethink and revalue local productions, supply chains and the links established at territorial level, in order to increase the resilience of agrifood systems and ensure their sustainable development, emerged. The cooperative model is considered to be suitable to address the challenges generated by transitions to sustainability, and agricultural cooperatives can significantly contribute to increasing the resilience of agri-food systems. Many agricultural cooperatives, from different countries of the world, have managed to adapt to the new situation, proving that they are important entities in the agri-food system. In this paper, we tried to identify some particularities regarding the changes in the cooperative system in Romania, in recent years, as a reaction to the challenges that the agri-food system has to face. For this purpose, we analysed the evolution of agricultural cooperatives before and after the COVID-19 pandemic and estimated the market share in different areas of activity with significant turnover, the evolution of some economic indicators, as well as their dynamics by counties and regions in an attempt to identify their development trends.
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The paper analyses the activity of agricultural cooperatives in Romania. The purpose of this paper is to provide information about the prospects of the cooperative sector as a means to improve the living conditions of the inhabitants in the rural environment, to ensure the increase in the producers’ revenues, to consolidate the economic role of the producers’ occupational entities, to improve and develop the activity in the agricultural sector and implicitly in the national economy. The current economic crisis has led to the development of cooperatives in Romania as well. Thus, we may say that at national level, according to the year they were established, there has been an increase in the number of cooperatives beginning with 2009, when 56 were registered. In 2010 the number increased to 81, and in 2011 the number of registered cooperatives decreased, reaching 54. At region level, the North-Western region stood out in 2010 with a number of 48 agricultural cooperatives. The year 200...
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The objective of this paper is to present the basic lines of the cooperativist policy of the Greek governments from 1914 and the enactment of the law 602 on cooperatives, up to 1923.The relationship that the state tried to establish with the cooperativist movement, the level of its intervention in the internal affairs of the cooperatives, the mechanisms supporting the cooperativist effort and the barriers in the cooperatives’ expansion will be the key points in our presentation. The paper will also examine how the first legislative act is incorporated in the wider policy framework of greek governments during that period. Finally, the way in which the political development affected the implementation of this decree, in relation with the procedures for the completion of the agricultural reforms, will also be examined.
AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES IN THE NORTH-EAST DEVELOPMENT REGION OF ROMANIA - ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES
Agrarian Economy and Rural Development - Realities and Perspectives for Romania, 2021
The role of agricultural cooperatives in supporting farmers has become increasingly important in the context of crises and unforeseen economic fluctuations, helping to improve their position in the value chain. If at the level of the European Union about 34% of farmers are part of agricultural cooperatives, in Romania only 1% are members in associative entities. The data indicate that the largest number of agricultural cooperatives is located in the North-East Region (a quarter of the total), especially in Botoșani County. However, analyzing the information on their economic activity, we found that a large part of them either never filed a balance sheet or submitted statements that they did not carry out economic activities. Of those who filed a balance sheet, half declared zero turnover. However, 57 agricultural cooperatives registered a profit for 2020 in the analyzed Region. In this paper, we aimed to identify the most profitable fields of activity for agricultural cooperatives in the North-East Development Region of Romania.
Assessment of Agricultural Cooperatives’ Performance in Russia: The Case of the Kurgan Region
Proceedings of the Ecological-Socio-Economic Systems: Models of Competition and Cooperation (ESES 2019), 2020
Agricultural cooperation, especially in a current socioeconomic , political and institutional environment, has a significant impact on the development of agricultural economy, rural communities and rural territories. The effectiveness of agricultural cooperative performance depends on the government activities aimed at creating agricultural cooperatives and supporting them in terms of information, consulting and finances. It also depends on the scientific concepts used for determination of modern cooperative policy instruments and strategies. The assessment of agricultural cooperatives' performance in the Kurgan Region (Russia) indicates that traditional type cooperatives, setup in the modern institutional conditions, result in low performance level of such cooperatives. New, modern features of cooperatives, contradicting the traditional cooperative model, and reflecting entrepreneurial behavior of organizations, have emerged in the last several years. This study has undertaken the in-depth interviews with potential and existing cooperative members in the Kurgan region. Results of the study indicate the importance of formal and informal institutions for successful development of agricultural cooperation, and the importance of compliance of cooperative principles to the currently existing institutional environment. Study results show, that present formal and informal institutions lead to the low effectiveness of agricultural cooperatives' performance. A traditional cooperative model is hard to be well-functioning within the modern institutional environment.
Ekonomika APK, 2020
The purpose of the article is to identify the premises and prospects for organising and developing secondary and tertiary producers’ cooperatives in Ukraine, specifically for dairy service cooperatives. Research methods. The research uses dialectical methods of cognition and monographic method – for the analysis of works of Ukrainian and foreign scientists on the problem of agricultural dairy cooperation; empirical and graphical methods – to demonstrate the state of the cooperative movement in European countries and interactions between three levels of cooperatives; remote survey method – to find out the opinions of co-operators about secondary and tertiary cooperatives; abstract logical methods – for theoretical generalizations and formulation of conclusions. Research results. Most cooperators seek a collective solution to the problems of a competitive business environment in Ukraine. The functioning of cooperative unions, which include dairy cooperatives (secondary cooperatives), improved interaction between participants in the dairy business and contributed to better organization of agricultural production in rural communities. According to the respondents’ opinions, the tertiary cooperative is designed to support farmers and cooperatives in solving such significant problems as restrictive legislation, or to support in the process of such critical reforms for agricultural producers as land reform. Those organisations may be able to influence the market conditions, to raise the funding or subsidies for small-scale dairy farmers. Scientific novelty. This article identified the reasons for small-scale dairy farmers to cooperate and their opinions about premises and prospects for organising and developing secondary and tertiary farming cooperatives in Ukraine. It highlighted perspective points of development and improvement for such organizations to support the further functioning of the rural dairy business in Ukraine. In particular, the respondents of surveyed secondary cooperatives are aware of prospective benefits from cooperative unions and expect something similar from starting the tertiary cooperative. They prefer those to be organised based on sectoral mandate and mainly concentrated on legislation and funding matters, but 80% of respondents have doubts about practical realisation of this idea because of such risks as corruption and shadow economy matters. It is important to stress that secondary cooperatives are the business organizations and in the worldwide experience aiming at marketing, processing or trading the production, gaining the bargaining power and market share. Practical significance. Scientists and experts of the agricultural economy can use the results of the study to support the development of secondary and tertiary dairy service cooperatives for improving the working conditions in rural communities with cooperatives and business environment for small-scale dairy producers in Ukraine. Tabl.: 2. Figs.: 1. Refs.: 19