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Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development (AJAD) - Call for papers!

A Case Study og Bankhai Agricultural Cooperative Limited

(Thailand), Master of Management in Agribusiness Management (University of the Philippines Los Baños)

Field Study Abstract:

This study investigated the effectiveness of the second four-year plan of the Agricultural Cooperative Restructuring Program (1984-1987) on the performance of Bankhai Agricultural Cooperative Ltd. in Thailand. The main objective of the program was to improve the managerial efficiency of the agricultural cooperatives which were financially weak and were suffering from administrative problems. It also aimed to make them more economically viable and capable of providing better service to their members as well as to improve the members' income and standard of living.

Results indicated that the cooperative's performance after it joined the program was better than before. The performance of the credit business improved tremendously. In addition, the members' annual net income and well-being was also moderately improved.

The main problems of the cooperative, which the Cooperative Promotion Department had to solve were as follows: 1) lack of funds to expand its business; 2) limited area of business; 3) low loan repayment by members; 4) high amount of interest receivable from members; 5) irresponsibility of some employees and non-performance of their duties; 6) lack of cooperation and loyalty of some members; and 7) instability of farm product prices.

Nevertheless, the program concept is good. It could help improve the performance of some agricultural cooperatives. The program should therefore be extended to cover all agricultural cooperatives in Thailand, including those that are not financially weak and are not suffering from administrative problems.