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     Volume 6 Number 9, October 16, 2012

 

AGRICULTURAL CO-OPERATIVES:
KEY TO FEEDING THE WORLD
 
This year, World Food Day (October 16) lands not only during Co-op Week, but in the closing months of the United Nation's International Year of Co-operatives as well. To mark the occasion, International Dispatch offers a snapshot of the impact agricultural co-operatives are having around the globe. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) predicts smallholder farmers will provide much of the extra food needed to feed the more than nine billion people who will populate this planet by 2050.  FAO further says supporting and investing in co-operatives is a necessary step to achieving food security. Our title is the theme of World Food Day, and we thank the FAO for the numbers that follow. 

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Vietnamese co-op farmers
Co-op farmers, Vietnam
925 Million The number of hungry people in the world today. Seventy percent  live in rural areas where agriculture is the economic mainstay.
 
12.3 Million  The number of Indian Dairy Co-operative members in 2005. They account for twenty-two percent of the milk produced in India. Sixty percent of members are landless. Twenty-five percent are women.
 
924,000  The number of farmers in Kenya who earn income from membership in agricultural co-operatives. The number in Ethipia is 900,000, and in Egypt about four million.


1,300  The number of co-ops here in Canada involved in agriculture: agricultural marketing, supply, production and services co-operatives, as well as co-ops that bring together producers and consumers.  Agriculture represents Canada's largest non-financial co-operative sector, based on number of employees and annual revenue.  

 
44 The percentage of Vietnam's co-operatives working in the agricultural sector.

 

40 The percentage of Brazil's agricultural GDP co-operatives generate. They account for six percent of Brazil's total agribusiness exports.

 

 
Let's take a closer look...

 

The Canadian Co-operative Association (CCA) works with agricultural producers in Latin America, Asia, and Africa to create and strengthen agricultural co-operative enterprises so that farmers can better identify market opportunities, improve quality and quantity of production using environmentally sustainable practices, and increase their control of the value chain. CCA integrates these efforts with financial sector development initiatives to help ensure that producers have predictable and meaningful access to financial services, including savings, credit, and insurance. Protection of the environment, effective farm management, land rights, both local and export-oriented marketing, innovation, and farmer-to-farmer learning are all hallmarks of this work. Here are some notable numbers from CCA's work with agricultural co-ops:

  

20,000 The number of households (100,000 individuals)  in the eastern and southern regions of Rwanda who will benefit from CCA's new project to help co-op farmers earn better livelihoods through improved production, marketing and sales.
 
8,000 The number of farmers in Uganda pooling and marketing their produce through co-ops. They save at least fifteen percent on inputs and have grown their revenue by thirty percent.

 

800 The number of farmers in Colombia who have shifted from illegal crops to growing cocoa, fruit and vegetables, and raising cattle.

 

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This publication is undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

Cette publication est réalisée avec l'appui financier du gouvernement du Canada accordé par l'entremise de l'Agence canadienne de développement international (ACDI).