Reforming the Farming Sector in Russia

Franks, Jeremy; Davydova, Irina

doi:10.5367/0000000054224337

Cited by 12 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…The establishment of these cooperatives was largely carried out in a top-down fashion (Franks & Davydova, 2005;Golovina & Nilsson, 2011;Kurakin, 2012). Each Russian region was expected to establish cooperatives, and the federal government made agreements with regional administrations about their creation.…”

Section: Cooperative Development In the Belgorod Region: Tangible Resmentioning

confidence: 99%

Post-socialist agricultural cooperatives in Russia: a case study of top-down cooperatives in the Belgorod region

Kurakin

Виссер

2017

Post-Communist Economies

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Through a study of agricultural service cooperatives in Russia's Belgorod region, this article addresses two gaps in the literature: first, the dearth of empirical studies on cooperatives in post-socialist Russia; second, the lack of attention to top-down cooperatives in the global literature, and the overly negative approach to the topic in the few extant studies. Whereas state attempts to establish agricultural cooperatives in Russia in a top-down fashion have largely failed, such cooperatives have sprung up widely in Belgorod. The article investigates: (1) what influence the (regional) state exerts on the cooperatives, and how that affects their daily functioning and viability; and (2) to what extent such top-down cooperatives might evolve into less state-led forms, such as classic member-driven or businesslike cooperatives. Introduction: the issue of top-down cooperatives The global literature on agricultural producers' organisations-also referred to as agricultural cooperatives-has a rich tradition of studies in the Global South, as well as in the West. 1 To date, the countries of post-socialist Eurasia, including the former Soviet Union, China and Central Eastern Europe (CEE), have attracted much less attention. In particular, the post-Soviet region-with Russia as its biggest country-has largely been ignored. This is especially remarkable when one considers Russia's rich early history of cooperatives, and the extended literature on Russian cooperatives and family farms, which is generally associated with the work of Chayanov ([1927] 1991) and gained importance in agrarian studies in the 1970s through authors such as Shanin (1971). Agricultural cooperatives flourished in Russia in the pre-Soviet period of the early twentieth century (Bilimovich, [1955] 2005; Kotsonis, 1999; Pallot, 1998). By 1914, the agricultural cooperative movement had become the largest in Europe, with over nine million members (Kotsonis, 1999). However, with the onset of communism and forced collectivisation, voluntary cooperatives were replaced by obligatory membership of collective and state farms. Very few comprehensive studies have been carried out on the fate of cooperatives after the demise of the communist system in 1991, and the subsequent decollectivisation. A

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Section: Cooperative Development In the Belgorod Region: Tangible Resmentioning

confidence: 99%

Post-socialist agricultural cooperatives in Russia: a case study of top-down cooperatives in the Belgorod region

Kurakin

Виссер

2017

Post-Communist Economies

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“…By the mid-1990s, supply chains in much of CEE and the CIS were in a state of collapse. Problems concerning the quality of output and the reliability of supplies, which were manifest during the socialist era, were exacerbated by the dislocation caused by privatization and macroeconomic instability (Csáki et al, 2004;Franks and Davydova, 2005). State-owned food processors have been privatized and lost their exclusive rights to supply.…”

Section: Contractingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Restructuring of Agrifood Supply Chains in CEE and the CIS

Gorton¹,

White²

2007

Outlook Agric

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The recent restructuring of relationships between farmers and the buyers of agricultural output (principally processors and retailers) in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is reviewed. The interconnected growth of contracting, multiple food retailers, imposition of private standards and foreign direct investment have contributed to the internationalization of agri-food markets in the CEE-CIS region. The restructuring of supply chains is profoundly affecting the opportunities available to farmers in CEE and the CIS. The paper advocates that public support to the agricultural sector should be geared to enabling domestic farmers to have access to restructured food supply chains, in contrast to much of the assistance to develop market infrastructure in the 1990s, which was geared to commodity spot markets, which in many cases are now in decline.

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“…The management is recommended by the public administration or has good relationships with the decision makers. The agricultural producers are invited to become members of these top-down organised cooperatives without having to invest any money or accept any other obligations (Franks and Davydova 2005).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Russian top-down organised co-operatives – reasons behind the failure

Golovina

Nilsson

2011

Post-Communist Economies

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Studies show that the co-operatives that have been established by governmental officials in Russia have not been successful. This study seeks to explore whether the government decision makers are badly informed about the conditions for running co-operative enterprises. The study is based on surveys within Kurgan region with agricultural producers who are not co-operative members, members of the co-operatives at the formation stage, the same members at a later point in time and a sample of government officials. The findings indicate that the government officials have poor knowledge about the socio-psychological conditions among agricultural producers.

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Reforming the Farming Sector in Russia

Cited by 12 publications

References 11 publications

Post-socialist agricultural cooperatives in Russia: a case study of top-down cooperatives in the Belgorod region

Post-socialist agricultural cooperatives in Russia: a case study of top-down cooperatives in the Belgorod region

The Restructuring of Agrifood Supply Chains in CEE and the CIS

The Russian top-down organised co-operatives – reasons behind the failure

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