(GIST OF KURUKSHETRA) Skill Requirements for Sustainable Livelihood in Rural Farm-based Cooperatives

[December-2021]

Skill Requirements for Sustainable Livelihood in Rural Farm-based Cooperatives

Context:

Cooperation is the culture of India’s socio-economic fabric. Rural farm-based cooperatives as an institutional mechanism have potential to achieve food and nutritional security and thereby increase income and well-being of members.
In the current market and consumer centric and technology driven economic environment, cooperatives need entrepreneurial orientation, business acumen and skill-sets in order 1o make themselves smart, competitive and sustainable.
The success of cooperatives lies in 4S- Standardisation of institutional and business practices; Scaling-up of membership and business volume,- Skilling of hard/technical and soft/ process skills,- and Sustenance of good-governance and management practices.

Skilling challenges:

Multiple assessment and skill certification systems
Paucity of expert trainers, inability to attract practitioners from the industry as faculty
Mismatch between demand and supply at sectoral and spatial levels
Limited mobility between skill and higher education programmes and vocational education
Low coverage of apprenticeship programmes
Narrow and obsolete skill curricula
Declining women labour force participation rate
Predominant non-farm/unorganised sector employment with low productivity
Non-inclusion of entrepreneurship education system
Lack of mentorship and inadequate access to finance for startups encouraging skilling
Inadequate impetus to innovation-driven entrepreneurship

Community-owned and farmer member driven cooperative business units need to practice market-oriented farming. They need greater farm management and entrepreneurial skill sets.

The Cooperatives have to integrate six capitals for their business growth viz.

(a) Human capital where skills, knowledge, ability would help pursuing different livelihood strategies

(b) Social capital where social resources, networks, membership of groups, relationship of trust encourages people to draw in the pursuit of livelihoods

(d) Natural capital where land, water, biodiversity, environmental resources manage flow to derive livelihoods

(e) Financial capital where savings, supply of credit broadens livelihood options and

(f) Information capital where accessibility and affordability of information, weather, market intelligence empowers the people to take appropriate and timely business decisions.

In addition, there is a requirement for improvement in hard and soft skill-sets of the cooperative managers. A few significant hard skill requirement areas include, inter alia,

(i) identification of business potential,

(ii) management capabilities in supply chain operations,

(iii) market dynamics and linkages,

(iv) business planning,

(v) product/ market mix and pricing,

(vi) financial management,

(vi) Total Quality Management and Traceability etc.

Similarly, some of the important soft skill areas are

(i) negotiation skills,

(ii) persuasion and use of influence strategies,

(iii) monitoring and evaluation,

(iv) problem solving,

(v) networking and liaising leadership, etc.

Way forward:

The cooperative sector has a big role in bridging the urban-rural divide and creating opportunities for income generation. In the 21st Century, the significance of cooperatives in the Indian economy and its function in social and economic milieu has evolved a new dimension which needs immediate attention.
There is a need to look at cooperatives in the rapid competitive environment, especially to evaluate their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats from a new perspective. Further, there is a need to design a strategic roadmap for cooperative movement to play a key role in making India a $5-trillion economy, helping unlock the true potential of the rural economy.
There is a need for collaboration and convergence to ensure that members of cooperatives, farmers, women and youth are able to enhance their employability skills and undertake income generating activities in cooperatives.
Cooperatives have to reinvigorate these perspectives in order to respond to the changing contours and structures of the business landscape and thereby making them competitive and sustainable. The cooperatives should understand that entrepreneurship development would make them empowered and strengthened to take farming decisions in ease in a complex competitive environment. Further, in the current market and consumer and technology driven commercial environment, the cooperatives need entrepreneurial orientation, business acumen and skill-sets in order to make themselves smart, competitive and sustainable. The success of cooperatives lies in 4S-Standardization of institutional and business practices, Scaling-up of membership and business volume. Skilling of hard/ technical and soft/ process skills, and Sustenance of good-governance and management practices.