2012: International Year of Cooperatives

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

The United Nations have officially declared the year 2012 as "International Year of Cooperatives". This emphasizes that the UN see the contribution of cooperatives as an important social economic development. The international year means to raise attention to the valuable influence of cooperative enterprises when it comes to fighting poverty. "Cooperatives are a reminder to the international community that it is possible to pursue both economic viability and social responsibility" said VN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon.

Agriterra too recognizes the importance of strong cooperatives in developing countries for instance in the field of buying, selling or processing of agricultural products. A strong competitive market position for cooperatives and other forms of farmer led and controlled businesses are essential to ban hunger and poverty. Agriterra gladly and actively supports the International Year of Cooperatives. We do this in several ways. In short notice this website will show the official IYC 2012 logo of the UN. This logo shows what cooperatives are all about: voluntary united people working within a controlled enterprise on their economic, social and/or cultural progress.

Beneath this logo, we will regularly put an Agricultural cooperative in the spotlights: what happens here, whom do they represent, which results do they reach?
But there is more. The National Cooperative Council for agriculture in the Netherlands (NCR) offers us the opportunity during the whole of 2012 to publish in her quarterly magazine "Coöperatie" stories on developments and results of economically organized farmers in developing countries. Mid 2012, they will also bring out a specific issue on cooperatives in developing countries, for which we will write the content.

In the late summer of 2012, Agriterra organizes together with her Belgian and French colleagues (Trias and Afdi) a "Farmers Tour". From different parts of the world, farmers and leaders of cooperatives will visit the Netherlands and do a multi-day tour along large and small cooperatives and their members in the Netherlands and Belgium. During the tour, there will be lots of discussion, exchange of experiences and ideas, and we will raise attention for this special form of agricultural entrepreneurship. We aim for a final closure of the tour with an event like a congress or symposium; more information on this event will follow later.

We also work together with the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) on a press tour to the cooperatives in rural Kenya, to be held in the autumn of 2012. The 15 international journalists that will take part in this tour have all together a very large audience amongst both farmers and consumers. We therefore expect that the articles from this tour will contribute significant to promoting the cooperative as instrument for economic rural development.

Finally, in the covenant - recently signed by the ministry of Foreign Affairs, the NCR and Agriterra - we registered the agreements to intensify and extend the cooperation between all three parties. In the International Year of Cooperatives, Agriterra, the Dutch cooperatives and the ministry jointly work to develop activities and to promote the cooperative business model in developing countries. In his speech, preceding the signing of our agreement, Ben Knapen, the secretary of state, praised the tradition of Dutch rural cooperatives and the "added value the Netherlands can offer for the acceleration of self-reliance and economic growth in developing countries". The expertise from the Dutch agri business is required to improve food security worldwide. It is as the slogan states: "Cooperative enterprises build a better world"!