engleski

The role and influence of cooperatives on eastern Croatian economy

The lack of long-term development strategy of Croatian agriculture and food industry has resulted in inadequate structural measures and guidelines for the development of agriculture. Family farms are, in relation to the ownership of agricultural land, their position and influence on the development of rural areas most significate holders of the agricultural resources in Croatia. At the same time, most of the family farms also facing with competition, caused by among other things with insufficient knowledge of the market trends, poor positioning in the market and lack of access to supply chains. The aim of this paper is to present different forms of business associations and to explore the basic barriers of development and interest of agricultural farms towards cooperative business. The survey that was conducted in June 2016 on the sample of 210 farms in Eastern Croatia included questions that evaluated the potential of an association of farms interest for the cooperative way of doing business. It can be concluded that only 9% of respondents are included in some form of business cooperation, but over half the majority of respondents are ready to cooperate with other farms due to a possibility of getting major projects, achieving greater subvention and economies of scale. Further guidelines for the development of the cooperative should be based on education (formal, no formal, informal education), the involvement of young people in farming and to encourage the finalization of agricultural products as well as the development of services in the cooperatives. By accomplishing these objectives, cooperatives will achieve theirs common economic and social interests and at the same time, they will strength the local community and effect on sustainable development.

cooperative ; economy ; association potential ; Eastern Croatia

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