Q.Co-operative farming.

Co-operative farming is the voluntary pooling of land and resources by small farmers to cultivate jointly, while each keeps ownership of his land, so that they can enjoy the benefits of large-scale farming such as better inputs, machinery and credit. This is an AP Intermediate 2nd-year Economics topic on agricultural organisation and reforms.

Meaning: Co-operative farming is a system of agricultural organisation in which a group of small and marginal farmers come together voluntarily, pool their land, labour and other resources, and cultivate the pooled land jointly under the management of a co-operative society, while retaining the ownership rights over their individual pieces of land.

Features and advantages:

1. Economies of scale. By pooling small plots, farmers can cultivate a larger area together and reap the benefits of large-scale farming.
2. Use of modern inputs and machinery. Jointly they can afford tractors, improved seeds, fertilizers and irrigation that individual small farmers could not.
3. Overcomes fragmentation. It solves the problem of small, scattered and uneconomic holdings.
4. Better credit and marketing. The society can obtain institutional credit and market the produce more effectively. …