Role of Cooperatives in Food Security

Some of the Main Roles that cooperative plays are,

To Provide consumers with essential Food grains at reasonable costs

The main purpose is to provide goods and services to the poorer or weaker section of society at reasonable costs. These cooperatives set competitive market prices for goods and services. The primary purpose of a consumer cooperative association is to deliver high-quality goods and services to its members at a price lower than the market price.

For Example, Around 94 percent of fair shops in Tamil Nadu are run by a cooperative society.

Reduce the exploitation of society&#x2019s weakest members

This society encourages the weaker section of society to become self-sufficient economically. It is a type of organization in which economically weak or weaker persons or sections of society join a business to achieve their mutual economic and social objectives to end all exploitation such as ending capitalism&#x2019s exploitation, eliminating intermediaries, and playing a role in bringing the customer and producer closer together.

It enables the communities in developing and transitioning countries with limited access to capital, education and training to pool their resources to solve issues, define common goals, and tackle the causes of poverty.

White Revolution

There are so many milk and milk products cooperative companies like Verka, Mother Dairy, Amul, etc have bought the White Revolution in the country.

For Example, Mother Dairy has made progress by providing milk and vegetables to the consumers at a controlled rate decided by the Delhi government. Another successful cooperative story is Amul in milk and milk products to ensure the availability of products at prices lower than the market.

Development of Food Grains Bank

As for higher profitability, Food Grain banks are essential for the post-harvest storage and distribution of perishable commodities and food items. Cooperative marketing systems already have their own huge facilities which farmers can use to keep their crops in these facilities while waiting for higher pricing. Apart from these, cold storage facilities also help decrease the risk of rain, theft, insects, birds, rodents, and rats harming the crops.

For Example, The Academy of Development Science In Maharashtra has organized training programs for NGOs and established a network of NGOs for the development of grain banks in different regions.

Boosting Agriculture Sector

Cooperatives help the farmers to connect with the markets and to provide a collective platform for bargaining with buyers, aggregating marketing, and processing services, main product distribution routes, and training and capacity development services to its members.

Access to Resources

Cooperatives help the farmers in their own services or corporate-oriented business. It also helps the producer ownership empower them to choose services and activities that enhance their individual agricultural profitability rather than the cooperative&#x2019s earnings. With the help of farmers can enhance their profit or revenues. A cooperative society can work more efficiently at lower costs per unit than farmers do individually by pooling supply purchases, and sales, and handling and selling expenditures.

A cooperative society is an organization owned and run by the people using its goods and services. They are a worldwide phenomenon with various definitions and diverse structures. They are an association of users or small firms, or sometimes households, aiming to serve the community as a whole. 

They aim for the replacement of capitalism with cooperation, are non-discriminatory, prioritize discussions, and follow the ideals of self-help and mutual understanding.