Title: Associating farmers in the producers' organisation for sustainable development of agriculture in Slovakia

Authors: Ivan Takáč; Pavol Schwarcz; Jarmila Lazíková; Anna Bandlerová; Alexander Fehér

Addresses: Faculty of European Studies and Regional Development, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Tr. A. Hlinku 2, 94976 Nitra, Slovakia ' Faculty of European Studies and Regional Development, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Tr. A. Hlinku 2, 94976 Nitra, Slovakia ' Faculty of European Studies and Regional Development, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Tr. A. Hlinku 2, 94976 Nitra, Slovakia ' Faculty of European Studies and Regional Development, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Tr. A. Hlinku 2, 94976 Nitra, Slovakia ' Faculty of European Studies and Regional Development, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Tr. A. Hlinku 2, 94976 Nitra, Slovakia

Abstract: Producers' organisations (POs) help farmers organise themselves in cooperatives as a tool to consolidate their market orientation and generate a solid market income. Position of POs in food supply chain is connected in relation to their processors. The internal governance refers to its decision-making processes. The institutional environment refers to the political and legal context which may have a supporting or constraining effect on their sustainable development. Imbalance in bargaining power between the parties in the food chain attracts a lot of attention from policy makers. EU Commission seeks to facilitate the restructuring of the sector by encouraging the creation of voluntary agricultural POs. The aim of the paper is to provide an analysis of the current level of development of POs, to identify factors that enable or constrain their sustainable development as well as specific measures which are effective for POs development in the Slovak agriculture.

Keywords: food supply chains; institutional environment; internal governance; producer organisations; farmers; sustainability; sustainable development; supply chain management; SCM; agriculture; Slovakia; cooperatives; market orientation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJARGE.2015.072898

International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, 2015 Vol.11 No.2, pp.105 - 122

Received: 18 Jul 2014
Accepted: 19 May 2015
Published online: 06 Nov 2015 *

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