You are right Morris. Here in Kenya, majority of agricultural based co-ops collapsed on the weight on liberalization and globalization. More importantly, they were unable to adapt to changing times. My country is probably the only one with a full fledged Ministry to take care of the growth and development of coops. However, it has been unable to fashion clear strategies on their revival depite their immense potential in driving rural economies and integration.
Notwithstanding the circumstances, i still believe they are still relevant but we have to re-orient them and possibly re-engineer strategies. Its high time however, the ICA redefined coop values and principles in tandem with modern business norms. I feel they are not relevant in today's world. We need to look at Germany and the Nordic countries to learn how they re-engineered their co-ops with changing times. The Kenyan agricultural co-ops arrangement borrows heavily from the Raffeisen model introduced to the world by germany in the last two centuries and spread by the British to its colonies through India. The ILO and FAO need to do more and also work closely with ICA on the relevance and future of co-operatives.
Past Legacies and the Challenges of Transition in Africa II
The writer seems to be biased on this article, because he fails to also highlight the major failures by the Zimbabwe government in the 90s, this being the corrupt cases that helped the economy onto its knees and the case of incompetent ministers who have never been held accountable for their actions.
Owen T. Ruwona.