Starting Cooperative Development in Afghanistan

Abstract Before 1973 there were only a few cooperative societies existing in Afghanistan. But with the end of the monarchy, the new republican government assigned importance to the establishment of agricultural cooperatives. Consequently the number of cooperatives rose from 6 in 1973 to 124 in early 1978. Most of these cooperatives are agricultural multipurpose societies, a type which is the most difficult to manage but certainly has the greatest potential to promote the economies and households of members. Membership has increased to more than 15 000 persons and total paid-up share capital makes up for about 14 Mill. Afs. This is a remarkable success in mere numerical terms, taking into account the short time of development. However, a deeper analysis of the existing societies reveals that their range of activities is still very limited. The main activity of the cooperatives is to act as outlets of productive credits to members. Necessary funds are made available by the Agricultural Development Bank. The possibility to receive credit is still the main incentive for farmers to join the societies. Repayment rates of cooperative members are clearly higher than the corresponding rates of non-members who receive credit through the bank under similar conditions. The main activities in the field of marketing are the collection and export of raisins to the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China and the marketing of cotton for para-statal companies. The benefits from cooperative marketing of raisins are not equally shared among all members, as only a minority, usually consisting of the upper strata of members, takes part in marketing. Had the government not taken the initiative, there would only be a few cooperatives existing by now. The responsible "Department for Cooperative Development" has an agent in every cooperative, who manages the society as long as members are not able to employ their own staff. There is a manifest dependency of the cooperatives and their members on this personnel and on the government. This endangers the development of the societies into autonomous and self-reliant self-help-organizations. Very little has been done for the "rural poor" in Afghanistan up to now. If the government sincerely aims at concentrating its efforts on this group which constitutes the vast majority of the people in the country, development of appropriate cooperatives and other types of self-help-organizations must be in the centre of the national development strategy.