THE AGRI-COOPERATIVE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PHILIPPINE AGRICULTURE: A POLICY BACKGROUND PAPER FOR THE AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT AGENDA

This study serves as a background policy paper for the preparation of an Agricultural Cooperative Development Agenda based on a bottom-up, evidence-based and multi-stakeholder process driven by agricultural cooperatives themselves. It finds that government policy is shaped by the goal of enabling cooperatives to function as a viable organizational form of economic enterprise, towards economic development and social justice.

For agriculture, cooperatives are seen as a vehicle for realizing collective action, economies of scale, strengthening bargaining power, and professionalization of organizational management.