Managerial decision making in agriculture cooperatives

The principal players in the high farm-oriented economies of the Asia-Pacific Region can be found in the sectors of milk cooperatives, agricultural marketing cooperatives, oll-seed cooperatives, sugar cooperatives, fertiliser cooperatives in addition to the cooperatives dealing in commodities like coconut, paddy etc. A majority of cooperative membership in this part of the world survives on these key areas. Consequently, the most vigorous business operations and member participation can also be found only in these sectors. Together with these, there are also large number of employees-full-time and part-time connected with these cooperatives at various levels. These sectors also handle high volumes of commodities, operate huge and complex processing units, and deal with heavy financial resources. In recent times, there is an awareness that agro processing activities add value and which ultimately benefit the member-producers. A case in point is that of agricultural cooperatives in Japan which have proved this concept beyond any doubt. They have succeeded in creating a very wide spectrum of business and services to the advantage of the farmer members..

In this region also are found very interesting management problems relating to finances, personnel, leadership and general membership. Boards of Directors have often to take Important decisions which result into heavy economic propositions and which influence a large number of farmer-members, employees and the market operators. At times there are govemment-initiated decisions and at times there are member-directed decisions. In many situations the boards themselves are wholly nominated by the government and thus the decisions taken there reflect the government policies and initiatives. Members, naturally have only to accept what has been decided. In many agricultural cooperative marketing and supply federations, members do participate in the decision-making process in several of the regional countries. People who have been trained in proper decision-making process from the lower levels upward. enjoy the confidence of the members. There are, however, dangers when fresh members or inexperienced ones get into the board and start taking decisions without going through the process of consultations, market intelligence and without taking note of the advice of managers who really are in touch with the market on one hand and the member producers on the other.

The process of decision-making is very delicate and any hasty or wrong decision taken by the board can result Into losses to the organisation-ultimately to the members. Persons responsible for decision-making have, therefore, to be trained by making use of experiences of others. It has to be systematic and be in accordance with the line of business and philosophy of a cooperative. For this purpose several opportunities are avaliable for the training of managers of agricultural cooperatives. These are normally provided by the national level organisations at national management training Institutes or through specially created management training programmes.

The International Cooperative Alliance Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific CA ROAP), New Delhi, has been providing such services for the last ten years though specially created management training programmes for managers of agricultural coop eratives. The "Strengthening of Management of Agricultural Cooperatives in Asta" is the project which is Implemented by the ICA ROAP with the funding support made available by the Ministry of Agriculture. Forestry and Fisheries of the Government of Japan. Under this programme every year 15 managers of agricultural cooperatives are taken in for an Intensive training of 6-months duration. The training programme emphasizes on vale addition through agro processing, and the managers are trained with the help of wes known Institutions of higher leaming in the Region. The managers are also given Intensive exposure to a variety of agro-processing cooperatives in various countries of the region. The course is run using classroom work and with the help of specially designed training material, especially case studies. Case studies are the most ideal Instruments of teaching and learning. These instruments provide the participants w rich Information, encourage them to analyse the facts and help them to identify the problem areas. The participants develop a mental capacity and professional skills to understand the process of decision-making and are able to take necessary steps to control the adverse situations while they are working as managers in their home situations. The training course equips the participants with skills of preparing develop ment project proposals many of which have been successfully implemented. So far 150 managers have been trained under this programme from all over Asia.