Development of agricultural cooperatives in Japan, 1: Agricultural cooperatives of today
2002
Ishida, M. (Mie Univ., Tsu (Japan). Faculty of Bioresources)
Agricultural co-operatives in Japan are known as Nokyo across the world. Their co-operative movements are rather unique because they have three major features: comprehensiveness, full coverage, and territorial possessiveness. In this paper, we attempt to discuss the structure, the conduct and the performance of the agricultural co-operative sector in order to get economic implications of their movements. We also discuss major changes that have occurred in the nature of multi-purpose co-operative movements since 1970, specifically in the areas of organization, business, and management, using the survey for SMAC conducted annually by MAFF. The main conclusion is that they are now standing at the crossroads, where they can either become co-operative firms with a close relationship to commercial enterprises, or remain as classical co-operative societies, and there is a rapid increase in the heterogeneity of their members, which is very painful for co-operative movements. The multi-purpose agricultural co-operatives, as they focus on the needs of part-time farmers, become rural co-operatives rather than agricultural co-operatives. As a result, vital farmers are leaving the co-operatives.
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