Agricooperatives and producer's organisations: case of EU countries and lessons for Ukraine ; Žemės ūkio kooperatyvai ir gamintojų organizacijos: Europos Sąjungos šalių pavyzdžiai ir pamokos Ukrainai

Abstract

The article substantiates the expediency of creating a mechanism for protecting relatively small farms, which are so characteristic of the countries of the European Union (in particular Lithuania), in their operations at competitive markets. An ideal solution to the problem may be the creation of producers organisations on the basis of an agricultural cooperatives, although this is not an uncontested option for the desired structure-forming way. The aim of the research is to develop objectives and measures to activate formation of farmers producers' organisations for sustainable agricultural and rural development. The study analyzed the experience of different European Union countries (legal regulations, scientific and statistical sources) in aspects of cooperation and development of producers' organizations. Organizational leaders, institutional policy-makers and specialists from self-governing organizations were interviewed. Also, this experience was compared to the current experience of agricultural business in Ukraine, the search for ways to transfer the best practices.