Tesis de bachiller--Universidad Nacional "Federico Villarreal", Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Comerciales, Escuela de Economía. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record.

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2013 / Agricultural cooperatives have been widely promoted as a vehicle for smallholder agricultural development in South Africa. As a result, agricultural co-operative registrations in South Africa are increasing. However, research suggests that South African co-operatives have generally not been effective, successful and functional. This study has investigated the challenges facing agricultural cooperatives in the Greater Tzaneen Municipality. It is expected that identification of these elements may enable institutions that offer support to cooperatives make better decisions to improve primary agricultural cooperatives support. Understanding of these elements could inform the efforts for members of cooperatives to achieve their set objectives and thus improve agriculture cooperative, employability, functionality and profitability. A case study of the Nkomamonta Agricultural Primary Cooperative in the Greater Tzaneen Municipalities is used. It is composed of fifteen agricultural cooperative which were purposively selected for the study because they were nearby, they are a pilot agricultural cooperative in the municipality and which are also not functioning as expected. The sample also included the purposively selected members, customers of these agricultural cooperative, workers, Greater Tzaneen Municipality, Local SEDA and LIBSA to explore the differences and provide insight to the knowledge, opinions and challenges that are facing agricultural cooperatives. One-on-one interviews were carried out with co-operative members as well as focus group discussions with customers, members of the cooperatives, workers, the Municipal officials, SEDA and LIBSA. A framework for analysing the challenges agricultural cooperatives with reference to the Nkomamonta cooperative case study was developed using literature of objectives of agricultural cooperatives, challenges which were identified by other researchers and success factors of smallholder agriculture. According to this study, farmers’ activities are hampered by a number of constraints. Production capability of the fifteen primary cooperatives is hampered by resource constraints such as lack of access to land (in one cooperative), machinery and equipment, finances and information relevant to production. Marketing, transportation, poor infrastructure and the elderly age of some cooperative members and issues related to free-rider syndrome were part of the problems that were identified. Low capability of some of the fifteen cooperatives to mobilise resources, use the limited resources available and low capability to manage institutional arrangements rendered the cooperatives ineffective in achieving their set objectives. The study recommends strategies for ensuring that the challenges facing agricultural cooperatives are minimised to better their services in the community. These include strategies for addressing internal and external issues affecting the cooperatives. Direct intervention from government is recommended to improve production through revising land allocation systems which made Kulani Agricultural Cooperative not to have land for growing crops. Jerry Jeff and Nwa Rex went out of action for eight months due to renovation of neighbourhood inorganic farms by the Department of Agriculture. Another strategy would entail improving extension services and follow up and strict monitoring of effective use of government resources provided to farmers. Responding and action taking when disaster has struck the agricultural cooperative by Government is also a plausible strategy. Access and training to relevant technologies to improve the processing and packaging capabilities of cooperatives should improve. Marketing and management activities should be supported through provision of improved infrastructure and relevant training. Farmers themselves should consider assisting one another especially regarding land issues as it was discovered that 67 hectares lay unutilised while the farmer next door needed land. Farmers should also engage in value added activities, and improve marketing programs and cost-effective distribution mechanisms.

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Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Agricultural Economics / Allen M. Featherstone / This dissertation focuses on measuring the efficiency and productivity for agricultural cooperatives in the United States using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach. Economic measures such as cost efficiency, economies of scale, and economies of scope are measured by estimating a cost frontier in a multiproduct framework. Productivity growth is measured using the biennial Malmquist index approach. The cost frontier is the basis for calculating cost efficiency, economies of scale, and economies of scope as the cost frontier estimation in a multiproduct approach describes how cost changes as output changes. The estimates of economies of scale and scope have important implications for agricultural cooperatives because most of the cooperatives sell more than one product. Understanding the impact of changing output levels or mixes on the cost structure is helpful to improve the performance of cooperatives. Further, scope economies estimate the percentage of cost savings through product diversification in a multiproduct firm. The trade-off between cost efficiency and multiproduct scale economies allows the estimation of whether a higher percentage of cost can be eliminated by becoming cost efficient or changing the scale of operations. The economic measures are estimated using a single cost frontier (multi-year frontier) and annual cost frontiers. Multiproduct economies of scale and economies of scope exist indicating that increasing scale and product diversification can reduce cost for agricultural cooperatives. The mean values of product-specific economies of scale for all outputs are close to one indicating that cooperatives are operating close to constant returns to scale. The comparison between cost efficiency and scale economies suggests that smaller cooperatives can save a higher percentage of cost by increasing the scale of operations rather than just becoming cost efficient. Because larger incentives exist for small cooperatives to increase scale, mergers will likely continue until economies of scale are exhausted in the industry. Annual estimates show that agricultural cooperatives have become less cost efficient over time, but economies of scale and economies of scope remain consistent across years. Many agricultural cooperatives face economies of scale indicating that variable returns to scale as opposed to constant returns to scale is the appropriate technology for modeling agricultural farm marketing and supply cooperatives. Further, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) test and two sample t-test are used to examine whether economic measures estimated from a single frontier and annual frontiers are statistically different. The KS test and t-test indicate that economic measures obtained from the single frontier are statistically different from those measures calculated from annual frontiers. This indicates that the cost frontier has shifted over time. Productivity growth of agricultural cooperatives is estimated using the biennial Malmquist productivity index (BMI) under variable returns to scale over the period 2005 to 2014. The BMI avoids numerical infeasibilities under variable returns to scale compared to traditional methods. The BMI is decomposed into efficiency change and technical change to evaluate the sources of productivity growth. Overall, agricultural cooperatives gained 34% cumulative productivity growth during the decade allocated by -2% and 37% cumulative technical efficiency change and technical change over the study period. Technical change was the major source of productivity growth rather than efficiency change. Cooperatives can achieve higher productivity by increasing managerial efficiency and by investing in technology.

Origination of the uniform agricultural cooperatives ("UAC") and their legal basis Abstract: The aim of this thesis was to map in detail the process of the formation of unified agricultural cooperatives. Furthermore, I have tried to characterize the basic features that played a role in the process of the formation of unitary agricultural cooperatives. In my thesis, I proceed chronologically from the publication of the Kosice Government Programme to the government's declaration of 15 September 1953. The first part of my work is devoted to the post-war period. In the introduction of the first part I try to outline the situation that prevailed in the then Czechoslovakia and I accentuate any mention of cooperatives. I then turn to the so-called six agricultural acts and the Hradec programme. The second part of my work is devoted to the events from the victory in February until the adoption of the law on unified agricultural cooperatives. This section begins by mentioning the first post-February government program statement and the agricultural laws passed on March 21, 1948. Next, I present the first post-war agricultural cooperatives concept. Much space is then devoted to the Information Bureau Resolution of June 28, 1948, and the subsequent creation of the conditions for the unified agricultural cooperatives...

O objetivo desta pesquisa foi identificar os principais indicadores econômico-financeiros que devem ser considerados no acompanhamento do desempenho das cooperativas agropecuárias. Para tanto, foram analisados 172 demonstrativos financeiros de cooperativas agropecuárias paulistas, dos quais 22 não dispunham de todos os dados necessários, sendo portanto, excluídas, restando 150 observações. As cooperativas apresentam dupla dimensão: a social e a econômica. Estudos comprovaram que, em cooperativas agropecuárias, o desempenho social é uma conseqüência do desempenho econômico. Diante disso, optou-se por avaliar o desempenho dessas entidades utilizando-se de indicadores econômico-financeiros. Para tanto, foi empregada a ferramenta estatística Análise Fatorial, o que permitiu verificar o nível de correlação entre os diversos indicadores, bem como a possibilidade de agrupá-los em fatores. Como pré-requisitos à aplicação desta ferramenta foram utilizados os testes de esfericidade de Bartlett e o teste KMO. Por meio dos testes, comprovou-se adequado uso da ferramenta, porém objetivando melhorar o nível de significância do modelo foram retiradas da análise as variáveis que individualmente apresentavam um baixo nível de relacionamento com as demais, verificando-se melhor nível de adequação do uso da ferramenta. A partir do resultado obtido conclui-se pela existência de quatro fatores centrais formados por nove principais indicadores. Finalmente, por meio das cargas fatoriais obtidas para cada uma das observações, foi possível analisar individualmente três cooperativas e comparar a metodologia empregada neste estudo com a metodologia tradicional, verificando haver coerência entre ambas. Conclui-se que o uso da Análise Fatorial, em relação às cooperativas agropecuárias, proporciona uma maior objetividade na escolha dos principais indicadores, o estabelecimento de um número menor de índices, a avaliação simultânea de vários indicadores, a criação de novos índices que englobam o conteúdo informacional dos indicadores tradicionalmente empregados e a classificação e comparação do desempenho das cooperativas agropecuárias de forma objetiva. / The purpose of this study was to identify the main economic and financial indicators which should be considered to monitor the agricultural cooperatives\' management. It has been analyzed 172 financial statements of agricultural cooperatives from São Paulo state. 22 of them did not present all requested data, remaining 150 observations for the assessment. The cooperatives have two dimensions: the social and economic. Studies have shown that, in agricultural cooperatives, the social performance is a consequence of the economic performance. Therefore, it was chosen to evaluate the performance of these entities by using economic and financial indicators. Applying the Factor Analysis statistical technique it was possible to find out the level of correlation among several indicators, as well as to group them into factors. As a prerequisite for its implementation it was used Bartlett\'s tests and KMO test, proving that the use of the technique was appropriated. However, in order to improve the significance level of the model, some variables which had shown a weak correlation to the other variables were removed, resulting in better outcomes after the application of the technique. It has been found four main factors by combining nine indicators. Finally, through the factorial loadings obtained for each observation, three cooperatives were analysed, and the methodology employed here is compared to the traditional methodology, looking for the existence of some coherence. It follows that the use of the factorial analysis, for agricultural cooperatives, allows less subjectivity in the choice of the key indicators, establishment of a smaller number of indexes, evaluation of multiple indicators, creation of new indexes to cover the informational content of traditional indicators and thus classification and comparison of the agricultural cooperatives´ performance.

A presente pesquisa tem como objetivo identificar a relação entre a riqueza criada e o desempenho econômico-financeiro das cooperativas agropecuárias no Brasil. As cooperativas são organizações econômicas intermediárias, que prestam serviços aos associados, satisfazendo suas necessidades econômicas particulares. O fato é que além das sobras, que pode ser uma estratégia das cooperativas a partir dos interesses dos associados, as cooperativas também prestam serviços, como assistência técnica, orientação, compra de insumos/produtos, comercialização, agregando valor e gerando riqueza aos associados. Assim, avaliar os resultados de uma cooperativa e o seu desempenho da mesma forma com que uma empresa, cuja finalidade é a maximização do lucro, é avaliada pode não ser o mais adequado. Identificou-se, então, a necessidade de buscar outra maneira que possa contribuir na mensuração dos resultados das cooperativas. A riqueza criada é uma maneira de avaliar o desempenho econômico e social de uma organização e, é evidenciada na Demonstração do Valor Adicionado. Para tanto, identificou-se a relação entre o valor adicionado produzido pela cooperativa e os índices econômico-financeiros relevantes na avaliação de desempenho das cooperativas agropecuárias, por meio do método estatístico de regressão de dados em painel, considerando 34 cooperativas agropecuárias brasileiras durante 5 anos consecutivos e, realizou-se um estudo de caso em uma cooperativa agropecuária da amostra a fim de identificar qual é o valor agregado produzido pela cooperativa e qual a sua estratégia de distribuição do valor adicionado ao produtor rural associado. Os resultados evidenciam que há variáveis de tamanho, rentabilidade e network inseridas no modelo que contribuem para explicar a riqueza gerada pelas cooperativas da amostra. A variável venda líquida, utilizada como proxy para tamanho, a margem de vendas, utilizada como proxy para rentabilidade e o fato da cooperativa participar de uma cooperativa central, proxy para network são significativas e estão relacionadas positivamente com a riqueza criada. / This research aims to identify the relationship between the value added and the financial performance of agricultural cooperatives in Brazil. Cooperatives are economic intermediary organizations that provide services to members, satisfying their particular economic needs. The fact is that besides the leftovers, which can be a strategy of cooperatives based on the interests of the members, the cooperatives also provide services such as technical assistance, guidance, purchase of inputs/products, marketing, adding value and generating value to members. Thus, evaluating the results of a cooperative and its performance in the same way that a company whose purpose is profit maximization, is valued may not be the most appropriate. Then, we identified the need to find another way to contribute to the measurement of the results of cooperatives. The value added is a way to evaluate the economic and social performance of an organization and is shown in the Value Added Statement. For this, we identified the relationship between the added value produced by the cooperative and the relevant economic and financial indicators in assessing the performance of agricultural cooperatives, using the statistical method of panel data regression considering 34 Brazilian agricultural cooperatives during five years consecutive and performed a case study in an agricultural cooperative of the sample in order to identify what is the value added produced by the cooperative and what is its distribution strategy of value added to the associated farmers. The results show that there are varying size, profitability and inserted into the network model that can contribute to the value added by the cooperatives of the sample. Net sales variable, used as a proxy for size, sales margin, used as a proxy for profitability and the fact that the cooperative part of a central cooperative proxy for network are significant and are positively related to value added.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T17:30:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2014-02-25 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / In the 2000s, the Brazilian agricultural cooperatives experienced a process of horizontal and vertical expansion, which guaranteed highlight for the sector in national economic scenario. This growth occurred at different scales, in national, state and regional level. Thus, this dissertation seeks to analyze this process of growth in the recent period, with emphasis on the development of agricultural cooperatives in the Southwest of Paraná. The hypothesis of the research is that among the factors that conditioned such performance, federal policies for rural and agribusiness credit, were central to productive restructuring of cooperatives, which ensured the growth of the sector after 2003, moment of change important political and economic conditions in the country. The official credit in the period of modernization of agriculture, was the principal agent of development of cooperatives, and its scarcity in the nineties, has made the sector faced a time of recession, watching the rest of the national economy. In more recent context, funding policies regained its importance in the government plan, with increased resources and creation of sectorial and regional development programs. In the case of Southwest, the credit allowed for investment by cooperatives, especially an increase in production capacity, storage, productivity and agroindustrial integration. / Nos anos 2000, o cooperativismo agropecuário brasileiro vivenciou um processo de expansão horizontal e vertical, o que garantiu destaque para o setor no cenário econômico nacional. Esse crescimento ocorreu em diferentes escalas, a nível nacional, estadual e regional. Nesse sentido, esta Dissertação buscou analisar esse processo de crescimento no período recente, dando ênfase na evolução das cooperativas agropecuárias do Sudoeste do Paraná. A hipótese da pesquisa é que dentre os fatores que condicionaram tal desempenho, as políticas federais de crédito rural e agroindustrial foram centrais para a reestruturação produtiva das cooperativas, o que garantiu o crescimento do setor após 2003, momento de mudanças políticas e econômicas importantes no país. O crédito oficial no período de modernização da agricultura foi o principal agente do desenvolvimento das cooperativas, e sua escassez nos anos noventa fez com que o setor enfrentasse um momento de recessão, acompanhando o restante da economia nacional. No contexto mais recente, as políticas de financiamento retomaram sua importância no plano de governo, com elevação dos recursos e criação de programas de desenvolvimento setorial e regional. No caso do Sudoeste, o crédito possibilitou os investimentos das cooperativas, principalmente no aumento da capacidade produtiva, da armazenagem, da produtividade e da integração agroindustrial.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T17:30:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Wilian.pdf: 5513676 bytes, checksum: c44c1b5890d638a4a988280a5dc2ea6d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-25 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / In the 2000s, the Brazilian agricultural cooperatives experienced a process of horizontal and vertical expansion, which guaranteed highlight for the sector in national economic scenario. This growth occurred at different scales, in national, state and regional level. Thus, this dissertation seeks to analyze this process of growth in the recent period, with emphasis on the development of agricultural cooperatives in the Southwest of Paraná. The hypothesis of the research is that among the factors that conditioned such performance, federal policies for rural and agribusiness credit, were central to productive restructuring of cooperatives, which ensured the growth of the sector after 2003, moment of change important political and economic conditions in the country. The official credit in the period of modernization of agriculture, was the principal agent of development of cooperatives, and its scarcity in the nineties, has made the sector faced a time of recession, watching the rest of the national economy. In more recent context, funding policies regained its importance in the government plan, with increased resources and creation of sectorial and regional development programs. In the case of Southwest, the credit allowed for investment by cooperatives, especially an increase in production capacity, storage, productivity and agroindustrial integration. / Nos anos 2000, o cooperativismo agropecuário brasileiro vivenciou um processo de expansão horizontal e vertical, o que garantiu destaque para o setor no cenário econômico nacional. Esse crescimento ocorreu em diferentes escalas, a nível nacional, estadual e regional. Nesse sentido, esta Dissertação buscou analisar esse processo de crescimento no período recente, dando ênfase na evolução das cooperativas agropecuárias do Sudoeste do Paraná. A hipótese da pesquisa é que dentre os fatores que condicionaram tal desempenho, as políticas federais de crédito rural e agroindustrial foram centrais para a reestruturação produtiva das cooperativas, o que garantiu o crescimento do setor após 2003, momento de mudanças políticas e econômicas importantes no país. O crédito oficial no período de modernização da agricultura foi o principal agente do desenvolvimento das cooperativas, e sua escassez nos anos noventa fez com que o setor enfrentasse um momento de recessão, acompanhando o restante da economia nacional. No contexto mais recente, as políticas de financiamento retomaram sua importância no plano de governo, com elevação dos recursos e criação de programas de desenvolvimento setorial e regional. No caso do Sudoeste, o crédito possibilitou os investimentos das cooperativas, principalmente no aumento da capacidade produtiva, da armazenagem, da produtividade e da integração agroindustrial.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T17:30:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Leticia_Casagrande.pdf: 3027045 bytes, checksum: e2060167a0e2c89f6fc2e1405e6490c5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-06-26 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Tried to analyze this work the formation and expansion of COASUL - Cooperativa Agroindustrial, between the years 1969 and 2012 for both, a split was structured in three dissertation chapters, and the first one is a general historical overview of the formation of cooperatives, both worldwide, national and regional, seeking to identify where the roots of the cooperative movement, especially the agricultural sector, in each of these scales. In the second chapter worked with the Brazilian economic outlook from the 1960s, showing the different government policies and the reflection of this for the development of agricultural cooperatives. In the third chapter we sought to examine the emergence and development of COASUL over the years, drawing a parallel cooperative with the national economy. It was observed that the trajectory of the cooperative was already being written with the economic cycles of the country. The first years of activity until the 1980s the COASUL underwent an expansion process, assisting in the modernization of agriculture in southwestern Paraná. During the 1990s suffered from the crisis in obtaining credit situation outlined from the 2000s to new political and economic landscape of Brazil. / Procurou-se analisar no vigente trabalho a formação e a expansão da COASUL - Cooperativa Agroindustrial, entre os anos de 1969 e 2012. Para tanto, estruturou-se uma dissertação dividida em três capítulos. O primeiro deles faz um apanhado histórico geral sobre a formação das cooperativas, tanto em escala mundial, quanto nacional e regional, buscando identificar as raízes do cooperativismo, principalmente do ramo agropecuário, em cada uma destas escalas. No segundo capítulo trabalhou-se com o panorama econômico brasileiro a partir dos anos de 1960, evidenciando-se as diferentes políticas de governo e o reflexo disso para o desenvolvimento das cooperativas agropecuárias. No terceiro capítulo buscou-se analisar o surgimento e desenvolvimento da COASUL ao longo dos anos, traçando um paralelo da cooperativa com a economia nacional. Observou-se que a trajetória da já referida cooperativa foi influenciada pelos ciclos econômicos. Dos primeiros anos de atividade até a década de 1980 a COASUL passou por um processo de expansão, auxiliando na modernização da agricultura no Sudoeste do Paraná. Durante a década de 1990 sofreu com a crise na obtenção do crédito, situação contornada a partir dos anos 2000 com novo panorama político e econômico do Brasil.