Why should farmers organize in cooperatives?

“There is a saying among the Macua people in Northern Mozambique, that ‘’a single hand is never strong’’, hence the need to join hands to get more strength. By joining cooperatives, farmers find this strength, says Natalino Barnete, Programme Manager in AMPCM”.   

In Mozambique, Norges Vel and AMPCM (Mozambican Association for the Promotion of Modern Cooperatives) have for several years collaborated to build  professional and powerful agricultural cooperatives and producer organizations. The goal is to strengthen the farmers' income through increased production of quality food and seeds, as we have achieved through the company IKURU, which is partly owned by farmers in the Nampula region.

Natalino Barnete, Programme Manager in AMPCM

“Farmers who join cooperatives share risks and costs and get opportunities, deals and financing and access to inputs and competivive branding and packaging, Barnete says, making their products more attractive and increasing the farmers’ income”.

Farmers that are coop members have access to aggregation services, such as warehouses and transport, and as a group they can sell products with a higher volume and quality and can negotiate better prices than what is possible for the individual farmer. Lower sertification costs makes it possible to serve even the high-end market.

Cooperatives create jobs

The seed factory of IKURU has made a lot of jobs for the locals

Through raw product processing units, cooperatives also creates employment in diferrent nodes of the value chains. However, one of the major problems facing small scale farmers in Mozambique, is lacking access to finance.

“Once united in the cooperative model, farmers promote self-financing and increase production and productivity in an environment of specialization throughout the value chain. The cooperatives allow the farmers to buy necessary inputs and equipment to reduced prices and by getting access to quality inputs, technical assistance, inspection, monitoring and evaluation and marketing, the farmers can sell quality products to an extended market, Barnete says”.

Noe one is left behind

In cooperativism, no one is left behind. This model promotes and ensures that there is Social, Economic, Environmental and Cultural Justice (based on the 7 Universal Principles of Cooperatives) through the inclusion and participation of People, Communities and Nations for the sustainable growth of its members, communities and the country in general.

AMPCM, together with its national and international partners, including the government at both local, regional and national level, , has supported various groups, transforming non-profit associations into cooperatives, making it possible to the farmers to move from subsistence farming to business farming.