Mobilising capital for agricultural service cooperatives

Agricultural cooperatives in advanced countries have found innovative means both to mobilize capital from their members; however, they have been much less successful in developing countries. In contrast to advanced countries, many agricultural cooperatives in developing countries were established to meet nation-building goals and were thus able to rely on government support and subsidies. But with the new era of reduced government budgets and increased liberalization of agricultural product markets, this source of finance is fast disappearing. If agricultural cooperatives are to grow and survive in an increasingly competitive business climate, they must learn to raise more capital from their members.

Originally published in 1996, this FAO booklet is now offered in web version to reach a broader reader audience. It highlights a number of cooperative finance issues -still relevant today-- that agricultural cooperativists must confront in meeting this challenge and provides some answers on how that can be done.

Click here to see the publication (html format).