Features of a Marketing Co-operative Society

A marketing co-operative society shares the general features of all co-operative societies, applied specifically to the marketing of produce.

1. Voluntary association — Membership is open and voluntary. Any producer of the relevant produce in the society's area of operation can join by buying at least one share, and a member is free to leave after giving proper notice.

2. Producers as members — The members are themselves the producers (mainly farmers), who are the owners of the society as well as the suppliers of the produce it markets. The society exists to serve its own members.

3. Collective/joint marketing — The essential feature: members pool their produce and sell it jointly through the society rather than individually, gaining the strength of large numbers.

4. Democratic management — The society is managed democratically on the principle of one member, one vote, regardless of how much produce a member supplies or how many shares they hold. The members elect a managing committee to run the society.

5. Service motive, not pure profit — The main aim is to serve members by getting them a fair price, not to maximise profit for the society itself. Any surplus earned is returned to members largely in proportion to the produce they supplied.

6. Elimination of middlemen — By carrying out marketing functions itself, the society removes unnecessary intermediaries between the producer and the final buyer, so more of the consumer's price reaches the producer.

7. Registration and legal status — Like every co-operative society in Maharashtra, a marketing co-operative society must be registered (under the state's co-operative societies law) and, once registered, becomes a body with a separate legal existence, able to hold property and enter into contracts in its own name. …