History of Agricultural Collectives in India: Past, Present and Future

Abstract

“Cooperation” is a concept that led to the success of several collectives benefitting smallholder farmers in India. However, if we carefully examine the collectives, it is evident that some collectives succeeded whereas, some failed in India. This article attempted to explore the history of collectives in India. Primary data for this study were collected from the RBI archive museum based in Pune. Based on the activities involved in the promotion of collectives, the phases of evolution can be classified as the Preparatory phase (Before 1904), Evolution phase (1904-1930), Assessment phase (1930-1947) and Action phase (1947-1990) and Post-Liberalization developments. This study concludes that policy makers should focus on working capital, free riding, and legal problems related to licenses, filings, capital infrastructure and capacity building. Optimum size of the cooperatives and antecedent of success can be the future areas of research.

Keywords

• Cooperation
• Small and Marginal farmers
• co-operatives
• agricultural development