FAO: cooperatives are key to sustainable development of the global agricultural sector

Topical issues of the development of cooperative legislation were discussed by experts at an international conference in the field of legal regulation of the activities of cooperatives in Russia and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Belgorod University of Cooperation, Economics and Law (BUKEP) held a conference on 23 June in an online format. 

At the site of BUKEP, the preliminary results of the analysis of cooperative legislation in Russia and other the CIS countries, conducted by the University on behalf of FAO, were presented. The research demonstrated the relevance of studying the legal foundations for the activities of agricultural and consumer cooperatives and analyzing the legislative basis to increase their contribution to solving global problems of humankind. 

Oleg Kobiakov, Director of the FAO Liaison Office with the Russian Federation, welcomed the participants. The FAO representative noted that the Moscow Office and the FAO Legal Office are working closely with BUKEP on a wide range of issues of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Agenda 2030). 

“Today, we are facing an unprecedented food crisis in its numerous manifestations. According to the Global Report on Food Crises, the number of people facing severe food insecurity surged to nearly 193 million in 2021, which is 40 million more than in 2020. This year, the number will even rise. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Yemen, Somalia, Ethiopia and South Sudan have faced the threat of mass starvation.” 

“The recent increase in hunger is due to several factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate crisis. However, the main cause of global hunger are still military conflicts. Between 2018 and 2021, the number of people affected by a crisis in countries where an armed conflict was the main reason for severe food insecurity increased by 88 percent and exceeded 139 million.” 

“FAO recognizes the critical role of cooperatives and other farmers’ organizations in the fight against poverty and hunger. More than 12 percent of the world’s population are members of 3 million cooperatives. The global turnover of the 300 largest world cooperatives amounts to USD 2.03 trillion. Cooperatives provide 280 million jobs worldwide (10 percent of the world’s working population).” 

“In rural areas, cooperatives play an important role in enhancing the competencies of their members in various areas, including the use of sustainable production and processing methods, entrepreneurial skills and business management practices, facilitating access to knowledge and information services, including through digital media, on such issues as optimizing value chains, building resilience and adapting to climate change through community-based early warning systems; support for extension services.” 

“Cooperatives are one of the main mechanisms to lift small farmers out of poverty and hunger. Despite the fact that small rural producers provide most of the food in many countries, they do not have easy access to markets to sell their products, and they also cannot obtain the means of production on favorable terms as well as access to financial resources.” 

“Agricultural cooperatives can help small farmers cope with these restrictions. Cooperatives play a decisive role in creating jobs, reducing poverty and improving food security, as well as make a significant contribution to the gross domestic product in many countries. They also play a key role in implementing the core principles of the UN’s Decade of Family Farming (2019-2028), as they play a fundamental role in supporting family farming and facilitating the transition to more inclusive and sustainable agri-food systems. So, FAO is calling upon the governments of its member countries to create the conditions that would allow producers’ organizations and cooperatives to prosper.” 

Elena Isaenko, Rector of the BUKEP University, opened the conference expressing gratitude to the FAO experts for their active joint work in organizing and holding the conference. “We hope that by closely cooperating with FAO our university will become a platform that brings together the scientific and intellectual potential of legal experts and practical workers of cooperatives’ legal offices in different countries in order to exchange knowledge, opinions, and best practices in cooperative legislation.” 

“The cooperative law forms the identity of cooperatives, which makes them different from other forms of businesses and can be a competitive advantage for sustainable development. Among the major tasks of our conference is broad awareness-raising of all stakeholders about the cooperative law, as well as about enacted laws and experience gained in their implementation in Russia and other CIS countries,” the BUKEP Rector highlighted. 

Elizaveta Tarasova, Doctor of Economic Sciences, Professor, First Vice-Rector for Research at the BUKEP, opened the conference as moderator. She expressed hope for continued cooperation with FAO: “We are deeply interested in the implementation of the SDGs, first and foremost, in ensuring food security and developing cooperatives, and we are interested in the practical implementation of the activities and suggestions that will be an outcome of our joint conference.” 

The conference was also co-moderated by Aghasi Harutyunyan, Deputy Director of the FAO Office in Moscow, and Nargis Bozorova, FAO Legal Officer. 

“In 2014, FAO conducted comparative analyses of cooperatives’ legislation in post-Soviet countries. At that time, the legislation of the Russian Federation was not an object of research. But today, we see the results of our first experience in cooperating with an academic institution of the Russian Federation,” Nargis Bozorova noted. 

In addition, issues of reflection in the legislation of various CIS countries of the recommendations of the International Labour Organization (ILO), as well as cooperative values ​​and principles of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) were discussed. 

Aghasi Harutyunyan quoted the words of former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who said, on the occasion of the International Year of Cooperatives in 2012, that thanks to the strong emphasis that cooperatives had precisely put on values, they had demonstrated that they represent a sustainable and vital economic model capable of ensuring prosperity even in the most difficult times. 

Over the hundred-year period of its activity, the ILO has given employers, employees and governments the possibility to equally take part in developing labour norms and policies all around the world. During all this more-than-a-hundred-year period, cooperatives have been a crucial partner for the ILO in implementing the human-centered worthy work agenda focused on building a fair, safe and open future in the world of labour.” 

Albert Thomas, the first ILO Director, was member of the cooperative movement. Back in 1920, recognizing the importance of cooperatives, he established a cooperation service within the International Labour Office, as the organization used to be called in the prewar period. The cooperators are separately mentioned in Article 12 of the ILO Charter. The ICA representing the global cooperative movement has an advisory status in the ILO. According to the ILO, cooperatives form a vital, democratic and sustainable model of business, and the very recommendation №193 on promoting the development of cooperatives adopted in 2002 by the ILO is a solid basis for the development of national policy on cooperatives,” Aghasi Harutyunyan said. 

In conclusion, the experts also discussed the issues of the position of the ICA cooperative and ethical values and principles within the legislation of the CIS countries. 

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More than 200 stakeholders attended the conference, which was held in Russian with interpretation in English, from 15 countries: experts in cooperative law, employees of agricultural associations, as well as representatives of ministries and federal agencies, academics, teachers and students. 

All the speeches of the panelists can be found in the recording.