Farmer Companies in Sri Lanka: Lessons from Agricultural Cooperatives in Japan

It is widely accepted that farmer-based organizations are vital for empowering and improving small farmers’ access to markets. However, farmer-based organizations have not always been successful as it is the case with farmer companies in Sri Lanka. The purpose of this article is to examine some of these issues and propose solutions drawing from long-accumulated experiences of Japanese agricultural cooperatives. The article is based on review of scholarly literature, secondary data and discussions with stakeholders of farmer companies in Sri Lanka and agricultural cooperatives in Japan. This article highlights some important lessons related to structure, governance, collective action and integrated service provision valuable for strengthening farmer companies in Sri Lanka and farmer-based organizations in other countries. Based on these lessons, a federated model is proposed to overcome some of the issues impeding the performance of farmer companies in Sri Lanka.