The role of the social and organisational capital in agricultural co-operatives’ development Practical lessons from the CUMA movement

Fragmentation, small size and market imperfection affect family farming's (FF) performance. Family farmers cannot seize economic opportunities, or influence policies that affect them. The experience of the French Farm Machinery Co-operative movement (CUMA) illustrates well how a movement of small farmers organised in co-operatives can contribute to the removal of the major barriers to the economic and social development of family farmers. Nevertheless co-operative performance is affected by pervasive incentive problems. CUMA history suggests how social capital is a critical resource in overcoming some incentive problems. The CUMAs succeeded in creating effective co-operatives through the development of a dense fabric of relations: (i) among the family farmers’ members within their local co-operatives; (ii) between the local co-operatives; and (iii) through their network with a multiplicity of actors. Some lessons from this cooperative experience can be broadly useful to governments and development practitioners to help unlock the family farming potential in developing countries.