Agribusiness cooperatives / by S. P. Seetharaman and Shingi , M.

The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) initiated a major management development programme when in July 1986 it launched the ICA/Japan Management Training Project for Agricultural Cooperatives for the Asian Region. The management training programmes being conducted under the Project, have provided to the cooperative movements in the Region, an opportunity to upgrade their management development efforts in order to bring to their members increased benefits of cooperative activity.

The present publication is a result of efforts made by the ICA to build up documentation and training materials based on experiences and management situations at the grass-root level. The ICA sponsored case studies, conducted in India, Bangladesh, Thailand and Indonesia covering not only the traditional crops like paddy but also commodities such as mushroom, asparagus, shrimps, prawn, icecream and eucalyptus. This effort gives an insight to the marketing and processing aspects of these commodities and opens up new avenues for cooperative enterprise in different directions.

These cases have been prepared essentially for the purpose of classroom teaching. Going beyond the basic production aspects, they underline the importance of marketing. They bring together relevant data for analysis and decision-making purposes and can be useful for formulating cooperative strategies.

All these cases are currently being used in the management training programmes organised by the ICA. These cases have not only generated enough enthusiasm among the parti cipants but have also provided opportunities for discussing grass-root level situations. These cases can be used with advantage in teaching cooperative marketing in institutes imparting managerial functionaries. training to cooperative
.