PECULIARITIES OF AGRICULTURAL SERVICE COOPERATIVES DEVELOPMENT IN LVIV REGION

The article aims to study the recent trends and identify the main problems of the agricultural service cooperatives development. The processes of establishing and functioning of cooperatives in Lviv region are investigated. The dynamics of number of established cooperatives shows a gradual growth in recent year, while the share of operating units is rather low. The size structure of the agricultural service cooperatives in Lviv region proves that the rural population is insufficiently active in participating in cooperatives. The most popular sphere of activity of the cooperatives in the region is dairy production, while the most wide spread type of cooperative is a marketing cooperative. The analysis of the sales of agricultural products by the cooperatives of the region by distribution channels shows that on the present stage of their development service cooperatives can hardly cope with their main objective which is to overcome the monopoly power of commercial intermediaries. This is evidenced by the fact that the share of agricultural production sold by cooperatives to the intermediaries is still significant.