Improving Institutional Capacity:
Strengthening Farmer Organizations in the OIC Member Countries
25
control from outside the movement, members’ involvement in the management of
cooperatives eroded. Primary cooperatives and unions increasingly became indebted so that
they could not effectively provide services to members. 30”
Thus, this study investigates whether an apex body for farmers exists in a given country, and
also whether the body was government-linked (including semi-autonomous parastatal
organizations) or independent. In total, 81% of countries (42 out of 52 analyzed) have some
sort of apex co-operative, federation, or national farmers’ union, as shown in the table below.
These bodies were marginally more common in the African group, where they were identified
in 15 of 17 countries (88%) than in the Arab or Asian groups. However, significant regional
differences emerged when the question of control was asked. In fact, every identified apex
body in the African group is independent, whereas 46% of countries in the Asian group
have a government-linked apex body, meaning 60% of the 10 bodies identified are
government-linked. In total, 10 countries (19% of the sample) have a government-linked apex
body. These represent 24% of the total 42 bodies identified.
Table 3: Existence and control of apex FO bodies in OIC member countries31
Group Yes, independent
Yes, government-
linked or run No body identified
African Group 88% 0% 12%
Arab Group 59% 18% 23%
Asian Group 31% 46% 23%
Total 62% 19% 19%
It should be noted that even when apex bodies are independent, this may not be enough to
ensure autonomy and proper functioning. As the ILO notes 32 about apex bodies in the Arab
world,
“Cooperative apex organisations function as if they are State parastatals. Recognition
of the movement’s autonomy and independence and acceptance of cooperatives as a
different type of enterprise is generally not evident. A common misconception among
the general public is that cooperatives “should be” controlled by the State to avoid
“corruption”. On the ground, it has also become common practice and an integral part
of general cooperative policy that government should be kept in the loop about
cooperative activities, as a sign of recognition.”
Therefore, the statistics above should be considered a point of departure for further analysis of
the farmer organization environment in OIC member countries, rather than the final answer.
Is there an apex marketing body for the most important crop, and who controls it?
Marketing bodies or marketing boards are common national-level structures dedicated to the
promotion and coordination of crop marketing efforts. They can play roles that range from
simply assuring price stability to being the sole legal buyer of all goods in a given crop (a
30 Kyazze, Lawrence, “Cooperatives: The sleeping economic and social giants in Uganda”, Co-op Africa Working Paper 15, ILO
2010
31
These statistics are calculated based on the sample of countries covered by the research (51 out of 57 OIC countries). Full
categorization by country, and the sources used to determine the answer, are given in “Question 2” in the table in Annex 1.1
32 Polat, Huseyin, “Cooperatives in the Arab World: Reaffirming their validity for local and regional development”, ILO 2010