Practical Support for Concerted Action

53. Agrarian reform programmes must pay close attention to the decisive role of concerted action in the launching and development of the farm units created by redistribution of land.

These farms are faced with complex problems, especially as concerns marketing. The fact that large numbers of people fulfill the necessary conditions to aspire to the allocation of land means that the vast majority of the units will be too small to allow the profitable use of certain techniques, for example those that make tilling less burdensome. Such farms also find it hard to obtain the main inputs needed, because there is often no local outlet, and when such items are available, they are very expensive. However, their worst problems are related to the marketing of their produce. In most cases, sales are controlled by a few local traders, or are in fact impossible — as is the case with new products, especially those intended for processing — because there is no on-the-spot demand.

54. In such a situation, co-operation is an instrument of solidarity capable of offering effective solutions. Depending on needs, its various forms — service, purchasing, processing and marketing co-operatives — allow a fuller use of machinery and an effective concentration of the demand for inputs and the supply of produce to the market. This in turn gives rise to small-scale economies and forms of market power that make the associated farms more competitive and can also open up new outlets for their produce.

Co-operation represents a precious instrument to allow both private and co-operative enterprises born of the reform to change the composition of their own production, and in particular to produce items for export without harming the local economy.

It is also very necessary for any agrarian reform to include the promotion and support for the establishment of local co-operative banks intended to grant loans to low-income families and women in order to support farming, craft activities and even consumption. Considerable experience shows that such small-scale banks can be an effective instrument in strengthening the new enterprises and in the struggle against poverty.