Fresh Fruit Export Co-Operative Organizations in Maharashtra: Development and Issues
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C H A P T E R 5 FRESH FRUIT EXPORT CO-OPERATIVE ORGANIZATIONS IN MAHARASHTRA: DEVELOPMENT AND ISSUES 5.0 INTRODUCTION: Co-operative found in the every region of all countries and handles mostly the agriculture related business. It allows peoples to accomplish functions collectively which they couldn’t achieve on their own. Most agricultural producers have relatively little power or influence with large agribusinesses or food companies that purchase and sell their commodities. Joining with other producers in cooperation can give them greater power and benefit in the marketplace. Small producers are organized into cooperatives in order to gain the benefits of economies of scale and to compete with large producing companies (UNCTAD, 2003). In view of significance of cooperation, India has gone through vast development in the agriculture cooperation sector. This chapter starts with the brief about the development in cooperation and cooperative agriculture marketing. The specific objective of this chapter is to review the selected cooperative export organizations and to undertake the study regarding challenges and issues with selected export cooperative organizations. The study will also focus on trade issues these cooperatives are facing. The performance of cooperative should not be measure in financial terms alone, hence the social benefits are described in this chapter. 114 I P a g e 5.1 Co-operative in India People learned ages ago that by working together they can accomplish more than the sum of each individual's efforts. Early cultures recognized the advantage of collective strength and the potential of cooperation by hunting, living, worshipping, cooking and providing shelter together in groups. The history o f human economic cooperation is perhaps older than the history of competition. Even before agriculture had become the basis of human economy, cooperation was a necessity. India, since the country's independence from Britain in 1947, has seen a huge growth in Cooperative societies serving mainly the fanning sector. Co-operative movement in India is one o f the largest movements in the world. It was started with a limited spectrum of activities or dispensation of rural credit has now entered in all fields of economic activity with social content. It covered 98 per cent villages and 75 per cent rural households. It has been playing a significant role in disbursing agricultural credit, distribution o f agricultural inputs, providing market support, processing, etc. for example, most of the sugar production in India takes place at mills owned by local cooperative societies. The members of the society include all farmers, small and large, supplying sugarcane to the mill. Cooperatives also play a great part in dairy marketing as well as banking. Cooperative banks in India serve both the rural and urban societies. Cooperatives, in all spheres, today cover approximately 99% of Indian villages and 71% o f total rural households in the country. Their contribution to the national economy may be seen from the following table: Share of the cooperative organizations in the economy! Table 5.1: Cooperative share in the Economy Cooperatives Percentage Agricultural Credit Disbursed 18 Fertilizer Distributed 36 Production of Fertilizer 25 Sugar Produced 50 Spindleage 10 Milk Procurement to total Production 8 ' Report o f the high powered committee on cooperative 115 I Page Cooperatives Percentage Y a m Production 22 Handlooms 54 Wheat Procurement 33 Fishermen Cooperatives 21 Storage Facilities (Village Level PACS) 64 5.2 Cooperatives in Maharashtra Maharashtra is economically important state o f India. It is also the most urbanised and industrialised State where development is found in each aspect o f the life. Co-operative movement is widespread and has a history o f more than 100 years in Maharashtra. It plays very important and decisive role in the economy o f Maharashtra. The state is known for its unique development in the field o f sugar cooperatives. Later on it spread rapidly to other areas like non agricultural credit, housing, agro-processing and marketing etc. This has resulted in development of growth centre across the state with adequate social infrastructure facilities. Through cooperative movement, has experienced several developmental attempts in order to promote the rural life from the view o f social, economic and cultural aspects. These attempts actually brought some changes that reflect obvious improvement in the rural population living standard. There are more than 2.24 lakh cooperative societies in Maharashtra. Table 5.2: Cooperative in Maharashtra Cooperative in Maharashtra District central Cooperative banks 31 Urban Cooperative bank 517 Primary agriculture credit societies 21384 credit cooperative societies 15575 Housing cooperatives jj 85335 Cooperative sugar factories 202 Cooperative agriculture marketing organizations 1474 Ginning and pressing cooperatives 271 Other cooperatives 89780 116 I Page 5.2.1 Apex Co-Operative Institutes in Maharashtra There are 24 apex state cooperative institutions in Maharashtra. These institutions are as follows. Table 5.3: Apex Co-operative institutes in Maharashtra 1. Maharashtra State Co-Operative Bank Ltd. 2. Maharashtra State Co-Operative Agriculture And Rural Development Bank Ltd 3. Maharashtra State Co-Operative Housing Finance Corporation Ltd 4. Maharashtra State Co-Operative Marketing Federation Ltd 5. Maharashtra State Cotton Grower Marketing Federation 6. Maharashtra State Co-Operative Fisheries Federation Ltd 7. Maharashtra Rajya Yantramag Kapad Kharedi Vikri Sanstha Maryadit 8. Maharashtra Rajya Hatmag Sahkari Sangh Maryadit 9. Maharashtra State Co-Operative Consumer Federation Ltd 10. Maharashtra State Co-Operative Union Ltd 11. Maharashtra State Caderisation Cooperative Society Ltd 12. Maharashtra State Cotton Ginning Cooperative Processing Societies Federation Ltd. 13. Maharashtra State Agriculture Produce Market Committee Federation Ltd. 14. Maharashtra State Co-Operative Spinning Mills Federation Ltd. 15. Maharashtra Rajya Sahkari Sakhar Karkhana Sangh Maryadit 16. Maharashtra State Forest Labour Contract Cooperative Societies Federation Ltd. 17. Maharashtra State Labour Contract Cooperative Societies Federation Ltd. 18. Maharashtra State Co-Operative Bank Federation Ltd 19. Maharashtra State Urban Co-Operative Bank Federation Ltd 20. Maharashtra State Co-Operative Tribal Development Corporation Ltd 21. Maharashtra State Co-Operative Dairy Societies Federation Ltd 22. Maharashtra State Co-Operative Industrial Estate Federation Ltd 23. Maharashtra State Co-Operative Oil Seed Growers Federation Ltd 24. Maharashtra State Co-Operative Poultry Societies Federation A quick check on Challenges and issues in general about Cooperatives worldwide: • Poor member participation. Inability to ensure active membership, speedy exit of non-user members, lack of communication in members. • Serious inadequacies in governance including those related to Boards’ roles and responsibilities 117 1 P a g e • A general lack of recognition of cooperatives as economic institutions both amongst the policy makers and public at large • Inability to attract and retain competent professionals • Week economic base, Lack o f efforts for capital formation particularly that concerning enhancing member equity and thus member stake • Lack of cost competitiveness arising out of issues such as overstaffing, a general top-down approach in forming cooperatives including the tiered structures • Diluted management. Politicization and excessive role of the government chiefly arising out of the loop holes and restrictive provisions in the Cooperative Acts 5.3 Marketing Cooperatives: Marketing is the process that an agricultural product goes through on its way from the producer to the consumer. As per RBI, “Co-operative marketing is a co operative association of cultivators formed for the purpose of helping members to market their produce more profitably than is possible though private trade”. According to National Commission on Agriculture, Agricultural marketing as “a process which starts with a decision to produce a saleable farm commodity and it involves all aspects o f market structure o f system, both functional and institutional, based on technical and economic considerations and includes pre and post- harvest operations, assembling, grading, storage, transportation and distribution, etc”. Traditional marketing in India involves several intermediaries within this process. As a result, o f course, the consumer pays an exorbitant price and the producer receives a very low price for his production. Naturally, it is in the interest of both producer and consumer that the number o f steps in the marketing process be reduced as much as possible. The result; the producer will earn more and the consumer will pay less. The very initial marketing is the traditional marketing where producer sells his production at a local market which is held in his village every 5 or 6 days - this is the first stage. The intermediary who buys this production transports it. Usually on overloaded small open trucks covered with a tarpaulin, to a regional market. Another intermediary will buy these goods and transport them to an urban market. The production will then be sold and distributed at the neighbourhood 118 I P age markets where the retailers will come to get their supplies for sale to the consumers. This way agricultural produce has undergone too many stages from producer to consumer. All intermediaries have benefited