The role of agricultural co-operatives in Burma

Burma is a country with a long history of rural co-operatives and with new trends in the co-operative movement. The trend has recently been to move from lower to higher stages of cooperation - from credit provision to marketing, and from marketing to farming activities. The latest development is in the field of co-operative farming which involves joint efforts in cultivation of land leading to pooling of cultivation rights and to group farming. The major aim of this study is to see how agricultural co-operatives have contributed to rural development in Burma, to examine the causes of failure and success of the agricultural co-operative movement in the past, to review the present status of the movement, and to highlight ways and means that will encourage success in the future. The co-operative movement was started in Burma in 1905, under British rule, to free the small cultivator from dependence on private money-lenders. Much was expected of the movement, but it was a failure and this seriously damaged the image of co-operatives. After Burma regained its independence the Five Year Co-operative Plan was announced and agricultural co-operatives were formed to service its members with finance, to supply consumer goods and agricultural inputs, to sell produce and to promote thrift. Serious difficulties, including reliance on government loans, inefficiency compared to private traders and inadequate leadership, meant that most society did not serve their members well. When the Revolutionary Council came to power, bogus societies were liquidated and efforts were made to form new socialist co-operatives as a mode of socialist ownership of means of production. The co-operative was regarded as the only socially-acceptable form of socializing small-scale producers, but most of the peasants were unwilling to pool their land. The Ministry of Co-operatives adopted the Pilot Project for Co-operative Fanning which emphasised establishing co-operative farms on cultivable waste land. The Pilot Project aimed to attract farmers through demonstration of the benefits of co-operative farming. Most co-operative farms, however, appear to have failed to take full advantage of their large scale and have experienced management disadvantages. The majority of land remains under individual private ownership and management and the small-holders are still economically dominant. Co-operative farming is still in its infancy and has not taken firm root. Only state initiative and local leadership can give momentum to the movement. It has to rely on good management and new technology to achieve higher productivity and output in order to attract more farmers