Agricultural cooperatives : farmers' chance to get integrated in the value chain

Through cooperation, agricultural producers have access to markets, information, technology, credits and various training activities. Cooperation also provides them access to the decision-making process, and what is most important, supports them legally in negotiating contracts with suppliers of agricultural inputs and equipment. The present study attempts to make an analysis of this form of association, starting from a foray into the literature on cooperation, going through a review of legislative facilities that appeared after almost 20 years from the Romanian revolution of December 1989 and ending up with a most accurate picture of the existing situation, based on official data. The results of the study show that 1696 agricultural cooperatives were registered in Romania in July 2020, out of which 12% were not operating, being under various liquidation forms. From the cooperatives registered by the end of 2019, only 42.5% submitted a balance sheet, which means that only these cooperatives had an economic activity and less than half of them made profit.