Can Cooperatives be a Response to Marketing Problem in Agriculture Under Recent Global Production Structure?

Abstract

The progress of capitalist mode of production in agriculture has created dependency on industrial production. This kind of dependency to inputs in agriculture causes the terms of trade grow against the producers. However, the liberalisation tendency in agricultural trade, especially in the aftermath of the Uruguay Rounds, increased the integration level of multinational corporations (MNCs). This enables MNCs, leading firms in production chains to render the producers dependent on the production process. Marketing is an important problem for producers in this structure. Producers can hardly access markets without the support of MNCs. Cooperatives may be a solution for such a problem. This study discusses that cooperative organisations could be the structures that enable producers to access the markets despite MNCs.