In El Salvador, Cooperatives are the Seed for a New Model of Rural Development

The following is a press release by SHARE counterpart CONFRAS, the Confederation of Federations of the Salvadoran Agrarian Reform.  It is titled: During the International Month of Cooperativism: In El Salvador, Cooperatives are the Seed of a New Model of Development. SHARE is currently working with CONFRAS to promote organization in the eastern part of El Salvador in order to motivate cooperatives to participate in national advocacy efforts for sustainable agricultural policies.

Press Release:

Cooperativism begins alongside, and as an alternative to, the exploitative capitalist system.  In the month of July, cooperatives around the world celebrate 167 years of life. We remember that in 1844, one of the first cooperative business was founded in Rochdale, England.  Today, a sixth of the world population, or some one billion people, are organized in cooperatives. This is why the United Nations has declared 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives.  

Of those registered with the DAA-MAG, 1,089 are in the non-reform sector and 332 of the reform sector—of Agrarian Reform.  It is worth noting that until 1992, 636 cooperative associations were a part of the reform sector, which means that by 2008, 48% of those cooperatives, or 304, had disappeared.

The number of cooperatives registered is greater, but here, we are counting only those active.  Between the INSAFOCOOP and the DAA-MAG, there are 3,300 inactive cooperatives.

Since 2009, Cooperatives Enter  a New Stage

With the coming to power of a new President, conditions in El Salvador begin to change. We are in a more favorable stage for the recuperation of the cooperative model and much more favorable towards agriculture and livestock cooperatives.  After decades, for the first time cooperatives are seeing that there are policies for the development of our sector, included in the government’s five-year plan and the Family Agriculture Plan that the MAG is implementing.

Even so, we see this reactivation as slow.  We are at a great disadvantage in terms of price speculation of basic grains and with very little preparation and great vulnerability facing climate change.

From our perspective, we question four aspects: one, that the Executive has not carried out their own efforts so that agricultural policies are converted into national laws; two, that the focus of the Family Agriculture Plan is very limited, and should be broadened to include a vision of food sovereignty; three, that public investment in agriculture should be guaranteed through a courageous strategy of combating tax evasion of the large corporations and their owners; and four, that the search for cooperation to reactivate agricultural production not be only in the North, but also n South, especially in Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and through reestablishing relations with China.

Learn more about SHARE’s work with CONFRAS.