Agricultural cooperatives: what will they bring to farmers, clusters and agriculture in general?

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- A second meeting was held with the participation of representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), dedicated to the discussion of the draft law on agricultural cooperatives.

Representatives of the organization, an expert of the international consulting company AFC Karl Krug, the head of the ASK Facility project of the European Union Adrian Nil and specialists from the agricultural industry participated from the GIZ side.

The meeting participants discussed the development of agricultural cooperatives, the study of the experience of developed countries in the agricultural sector, as well as the identification of shortcomings and ways to eliminate them in the draft law.

How will agricultural cooperatives be organized under the draft law and what will they bring to farmers, clusters and agriculture in general?

First of all, cooperatives must be organized voluntarily. After that, they can unite in a common cooperative. In this large cooperative, the members are farmers. Clusters are also currently entering into individual contracts with hundreds of farmers. However, in a cooperative, farmers unite and, forming a common cooperative, conclude a single agreement.

Farmer cooperatives may form secondary cooperatives. The members of such a cooperative will not be farmers, but cooperatives, agro-clusters or processing enterprises. The important thing is that they can create a large republican-scale cooperative. Cooperatives can create a system in the form of a vertical pyramid in the associated farms. Thanks to this system, it is possible to produce products and directly deliver them to the regional, district, republican or international export levels. This will create completely new opportunities for farmers and will serve as an impetus for a complete transformation of the agricultural sector in Uzbekistan.

The draft law "On agricultural cooperatives", consisting of 11 chapters, 60 articles, was developed and submitted for discussion.