ANNOUNCEMENTS
In India, agricultural cooperatives can serve as an important institutional mechanism to achieve food security by addressing systemic problems regarding production, distribution, and access to food. As one of the largest producers of food in the world, India still experiences food insecurity due to fragmentation in supply chains, post-harvest losses, price fluctuations, and unequal access, especially for small and marginal farmers. Agricultural cooperatives address these problems by allowing cooperative behavior among farmers, which can enhance production through pooled resources, access markets on a more even playing ground through economies of scale, and reduce farmer income volatility through risk-sharing. Cooperatives will formally integrate smallholder farmers into value chains to enhance all four categories of food security/dimensions—availability (expanding total production), access (fair prices and improved markets), utilization (encouraging nutrition-sensitive agriculture), and stability (climate-resilient practices and storage options). Nonetheless, the value that cooperatives provide is significantly diminished by a restrictive and outdated institutional framework. The Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act (2002) and the relevant state cooperative societies law provide the governing framework, however, government involvement in cooperatives is pervasive; political, political in nature; bureaucratic; and often accompanied by and with unanticipated consequences related financial authority. The 97th Constitutional Amendment (2011) to the Constitution gave cooperatives constitutional status, but it has not been fully implemented and has not led to true autonomy or democratic governance. Among other things, cooperatives in India suffer from rigid funding modalities, non-functioning dispute resolution systems, minimal use of digital technology, and the incessant fragmentation of landholdings that limit their ability to scale, develop food systems, and change the experience of collective action in Indian agriculture. Law and policy must focus on supporting cooperatives by decentralizing control, expanding financial inclusion through cooperative banking structures, using digital technology for supply chain efficiency, and developing gender-sensitive governance systems. Good examples include Amul (the dairy cooperatives), Lijjat Papad (the women-led collective), and previous successful horticulture cooperatives in Kerala, which show that farmer collectives can transform food systems by shaping the proper policy landscape. To be effective, India needs a genuine and comprehensive National Cooperative Policy, which operationalizes the constitutional requirement of cooperatives and sets priorities by streamlining regulations, incentivizing innovation and providing the infrastructure to promote other sustainable development goals (SDGs). The priority of reform must be on investing in farmer capacity, avoiding climate-limited agricultural practices and linking cooperatives with government food security programs such as the public distribution system (PDS). Once the legal and operational barriers are removed for agricultural cooperatives, they can depart from their previous role as peripheral actors and re-establish themselves as integral components of India's food security architecture. There is ample evidence to show that attended to correctly, cooperatives can develop equitable growth and resilience in the face of future agricultural crises.
