São Paulo – This Monday (31) in New York, the United Nations’ three hunger relief agencies have launched International Year of Cooperation: 2012. The project aims to encourage this practice around the world because through it small farmers are able to organize and negotiate better prices with large companies. To the United Nations, this is a means for fighting hunger and increasing food security in the planet. The project names Brazil as a successful case when it comes to agricultural cooperatives.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in 2009, cooperatives accounted for 37.2% of the Brazilian agricultural gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009, and 5.4% of the country’s overall GDP. Cooperatives posted US$ 3.6 billion in export revenues that year.
Brazil is not the only place where cooperatives have thrived. In the Mauritius, cooperatives account for 60% of agricultural production. Aside from the FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) participate in the project.
According to the FAO, cooperatives are important sources of life improvement to small farmers and their families. Small farmers are able to obtain lower prices whenever they buy agricultural inputs such as seeds, fertilizer and equipment. According to the agencies, cooperatives also enable farmers to reach markets that they otherwise could not.
The FAO claims that in 2008, the world’s 300 largest cooperatives, in different sectors, posted combined revenues of US$ 1.1 trillion, “comparable to the GDP of many large countries.” In that year, according to the FAO, cooperatives in all fields created 100 million jobs, 20% more than multinational corporations. The agency adds that cooperatives enable the sustainable development of jobs in rural areas and grant small farmers access to training and technological improvements.
During the entire year of 2012, the UN’s hunger relief agencies promise to provide small farmers with information on the advantages of cooperatives and their impact on socioeconomic development, to aid governments and authorities to include small farmers in the laws, projects and policies concerning the agricultural sector, and to promote dialogue between cooperatives, farmers, governments and research institutions, seeking the best ways to develop this practice.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
