Cooperatives

Co-operatives:

o Cooperatives are made up of members who unite to market (sell) their products or services.

o Members own the cooperative.

o Cooperatives also may sell products or services to their members.

o Members get to control the cooperative and decide how it's run!

o There is no limit to the number of members in a co-operative

o The members share in the profits of the co-operative

o Co-Operative Societies can be divided broadly into three categories

Producer Co-Operatives

This means that the members form a co-operative which would have the function to cater for the sales of their produce. The final product is not produced by the co-operative itself. Examples of producer co-operatives are agriculture, fisheries, pig-breeders, milk and wine producers. The farmer produces vegetables as a self-employed in his fields; like the fisherman or the herdsman. When it comes to sell his product, the co-operative collect the products from all its members, and strives to sell it at the best price.

Consumer Co-Operatives

In this case, the members form a co-operative with the aim of charging it with the function of buying products in bulk for their sake. Later on, the members would purchase these products from the co-operative like individual consumers do. Examples of such consumer co-operatives are supermarkets and other selling outlets. So a student who is a member in a bookshop co-operative benefits from a reduction in the price of the books that are purchased.

Worker Co-Operatives

In most cases, both the producer and the consumer co-operatives