Slide 9 of 10
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Slide 9 of 10 |
Coops have the opportunity to make a real difference!
The arrival of the Internet has speeded up globalization. In this dotcom economy, everything can be produced anywhere and sold anywhere. The range of goods and services to choose from has increased remarkably. Prices have become competitive. It is this scenario that makes cynics wonder as to whether cooperatives will survive under such conditions.
Globalization and the Internet notwithstanding, it will certainly be in the interests of farmers, for example, to stay with their cooperatives. It must be remembered that the benefits brought about by globalization through investments by transnational corporations in a country can also be temporary. They can relocate elsewhere any time and no government can stop them. A country that will have destroyed its local social and economic systems like cooperatives will be thrown into the cold.
It also needs to be understood that the dotcom business is far from removing cooperatives from the scene. Cooperatives will still be needed to provide the logistics of delivering inputs, for example, to individual farmers even when such inputs have been purchased through the Internet. Furthermore, it will take a long time before individual producers can own computers and get connected to the Internet. Much more importantly, it will be in the interests of the individual farmers to keep with their cooperatives because cooperatives will also use the Internet as a tool to help them work together nationally, regionally and globally and to overcome social exclusion. For example, in the area of credit, instead of an individual negotiating a loan for $ 100,000 , a cooperative can consult its members via the Internet and instantly put together loan requirements for many individuals and then go for a loan of say $1 million with better financial conditions.
Comments or questions? Contact the COPAC Coordinator.
Posted: 17 July 2000