ABSTRACT
Successful agricultural cooperatives are often associated with prosperous areas endowed with fertile soil, irrigation, and accessible markets. However, some cotton cooperatives have worked successfully for over 50 years in the dry and drought-prone areas of Gujarat. Farmers belonging to the Patidar caste, a caste well-known for its enterprising spirit, established many of these co-ops and continue to manage them. Motivation for cooperative action was strengthened by the perception that cotton traders and factory owners belonging to non-Patidar castes were taking advantage of the farmers.
This chapter describes two agro-industrial co-ops engaged in cotton ginning and pressing, with Patidar entrepreneurship and management skills evident in both cases. In Samlaya, five marketing co-ops pool resources for processing, but they compete with each other in procuring raw cotton from the farmers. (This competition gives the farmers a range of choices plus good information on managerial performance in the marketing co-ops.) In Varanama, the co-op suffered from the decline of cotton cultivation in the area. However, this coop stayed in business by renting warehouse space to other enterprises. Thus the co-op survives, though it is no longer very active in the processing and marketing of cotton.
