Rural Social Organization and Farmer Cooperatives Development in Russia and other Emerging Economies: Comparative Analysis

Abstract

Farmer cooperatives development is an important direction of rural economic growth in developing countries which attracts serious international attention of both practitioners and scholars in the face of global “food demand”. Russia is of special interest in this regard because it occupies the biggest in the world area of farmland which is not yet incorporated in agricultural production. In spite of significant financial support from the government, farmer cooperatives development in Russia faces major difficulties. In order to better understand the perspectives for successful farmer cooperatives development in Russia, we conduct comparative analysis of emerging economies in the field of rural social organization’s influence on farmer cooperative development (the question that has not yet been given full attention in literature). We use empirical evidence from literature dealing with farmer cooperatives development in India, Vietnam, China and other emerging economies as well as results of our own empirical research in Russian Belgorod region. The main findings of our study are: 1. Local characteristics of social organization may influence development of farmer cooperatives significantly. 2. Traditional elements of rural social organization may affect farmer cooperative development both positively and negatively. 3. In the present conditions of rural social organization farmer cooperative development in emerging economies may need strong and complex governmental assistance.

Keywords: social organization, rural communities, farmer cooperatives, Russia