Farmers’ Organizations: The Cooperatives

The government has launched a determined effort to induce the farmers into joining cooperatives for the purpose of supplying inputs, marketing and production. Three types of cooperatives exist in the Congo. The first of these is the marketing cooperatives. The marketing cooperatives appear to be well established. The second type of cooperative is the production cooperative directly organized by the Ministry of Rural Economy. The third group of cooperatives in the Congo is the pre-cooperative. According to data from the Ministry of Rural Economy, the total membership of cooperatives stood at 14,000 in mid-1980. The cooperatives are directly under the Cooperatives Services Department, which operates under the Agriculture and Livestock Division of the Ministry of Rural Economy. A very helpful partnership can be foreseen between the government and the cooperative movement short of production cooperative, in enhancing the national efforts to improve agriculture, and to develop the rural environment.