Теоретико-методологічні засади розвитку сільськогосподарської кооперації в розбудові аграрного устрою України

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to generalize, systematize and deepen the theoretical and methodological principles of the elaboration of agricultural cooperation in the development of the agrarian system of Ukraine. The role and place of cooperation in the system of social organization of labor is researched. It is displayed that cooperation is an objective prerequisite for integration, and the division of labor itself causes its necessity. In institutional theory, the choice between free market transactions and full vertical coordination for economic agents is caused by market conditions, allocative efficiency of resource allocation and their minimum cost. The dynamics and state of development of agricultural cooperation in Ukraine are analyzed. An approximate three-level scheme of the national agricultural cooperative system is developed. At the first level of the hierarchy, agricultural cooperatives and cooperative associations should be located, at the second – regional unions (associations) of agricultural cooperatives, at the third – the All-Ukrainian Association of Agricultural Cooperatives. Under such a cooperative system, the principles of centralized and decentralized management are optimally combined, the self-government of cooperatives and compliance with the principles of cooperation are ensured. Based on the three-level scheme of the national agricultural cooperative system, the conceptual principles for the development of cooperative relations in agriculture at the regional level are substantiated. At this, management functions are retained by the cooperative association, which includes agricultural enterprises, farms and households belonging to the country’s residents, consulting services and support are provided by the regional advisory service, and the distribution of funds is carried out by a credit union founded by members of this cooperative association. A model of elaborating the cooperative relations in the agricultural sector of the economy with the participation of households and small commodity producers is proposed, which provides for the creation of a consumer agricultural cooperative. In case of deepening the integration of a consumer cooperative with another production, processing or sales enterprise of the agricultural sector of the economy, the cooperative model is transformed into a cooperative-integrated one, while maintaining the advantages of cooperation and receiving additional organizational and economic benefits from integration.