Cooperative Farming

Introduction

Cooperative farming has gained significant popularity in recent years with the government supporting daily wagers and farmers to form cooperative societies which help people to gain profits from their resources efficiently. Besides, this kind of farming practice can be conducted by individual farmers’ incorporation with common agencies. In this type of farming a group of farmers with common interests establish an agreement and pool their resources voluntarily which eventually assists them ineffective and profitable farming. There can be several confusions regarding this topic. For instance, people might have little idea of cooperative farming as it is an emerging practice. Besides the role of the department of agriculture cooperation and farmer welfare can be a matter of discussion. All the doubts regarding this subject will be answered by the end of this post. 

Discussion

What is cooperative farming?

Cooperative farming refers to agricultural practices that are conducted by individuals on their holdings and resources jointly with other farmers and agencies. The agencies on behalf of the farmers form a collection in order to purchase agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, seeds, farming equipment and others. Besides, these agencies are known as cooperative societies also assist the farmers in the sale of their agricultural production. The incorporation of public agencies for cooperative societies helps to improve the poor condition of farmers, especially in developing countries like India. This farming practice allows small farms to conduct practices that large farms do such as increasing production volume to open new markets, buying farm inputs at bulk rates and others. 

Cooperative farming processes can also assist individual farmers to reduce the per-use cost of their farm equipment, reducing the overall cost of farming for individual farmers involved in the cooperation. It can be stated in this context that farmers and producers can together access the required farm services, lower production costs and generate higher income by implementing cooperative farming. 

Features and advantages of cooperative farming

Features

Various features of this kind of farming practice are as provided below:

• Farmers originally retain the rights of their land in cooperative farming.
• The strategic partnership of various farmers to conduct this type of farming is voluntary.
• In this type of farming the whole farm is managed by a single unit and the management is chosen by all the members involved in this farming practice.
• Each member involved in this kind of farming earns a share of profit based on their labour input and land contributed for farming. 

Advantages

There are various advantages of cooperative farming that have been discussed below:

• According to various reports and estimations, it has been observed that this farming practice has increased per acre production significantly over the past few years. 
• This farming practice can solve the issue of sub-division as well as fragmentation of holdings of farmers involved in this kind of farming.
• Cooperative farms have increased the number of men-material-money resources which increases the irrigation system and land productivity. 
• This farming practice can typically solve all the problems involved in small and uneconomic holdings and helps farmers to gain more profit increasing economies of scale. 
• Higher productivity of farming can establish a way to release the workers in farm land from agricultural to non-agricultural operations. 

Analyze department of agriculture cooperation and farmer welfare

Agriculture plays a vital role in increasing the economy of India as it contributes greatly to increasing the GDP of the country. “The department of agriculture cooperation and farmer welfare (DAC&FW),” is considered to be one of the three vital constituents of “Ministry of agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare” of India. As per data and estimation, around 50% of Indian populations are engaged in agriculture and this sector contributes 18-20% to the total GDP of the nation. The department of agriculture cooperation and farmer welfare have been developed to protect the agriculture sector and ensure its sustainable development. This department is divided into 27 units which comprise 5 attached offices and 21 subordinate offices to manage the vast agricultural sector of India.

How does the department of agriculture cooperation and farmer welfare help in improving cooperative farming?

DAC&FW ensures the effective and sustainable development of farmers and agriculture in India. This department enforces various schemes and policies to ensure the welfare of farm lands and farmers to improve the overall production of agricultural lands and the living standards of farmers. For instance, the departments along with the ministry of Agriculture of India have established policies such as “Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, Prime Minister Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna” and several other effective schemes. Besides, the government of India has also released a scheme to support the Sub-Mission on Agroforestry to develop the agriculture sector further.  

How many types of cooperative farming are there?

Cooperative farming can be classified into three types such as farming operation and ownership both individual, joint farming ownership in which operation and individuals are collective and tenant farming where ownership is collective and operations are individual.

Conclusion

This study concludes that Cooperative farming holds significance in the agriculture sector of India. The post has effectively all the questions that arose at the beginning of this study and clears all the doubts regarding this farming practice. It justifies the role of the department of agriculture cooperation and farmer welfare significantly and discusses the steps taken by this department to improve agriculture and farmers’ condition in India.