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Developing Countries: Cooperatives

Asked by Preet Kaur GillLabour (Co-op)Foreign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled Answered 7 April 2025UIN 42724

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential role of cooperative models in strengthening economic resilience in developing countries.

Answered by Catherine West

Cooperatives and producer organisations have an important role to play in enabling smallholder farmers and communities to access services and markets and raise productivity sustainably. The UK has supported cooperatives and other forms of collective action through the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (GAFSP) managed by the World Bank, which has a dedicated funding facility for producer organisations, and the Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusiness Programme (CASA), which provides support to help producer organisations in Africa access markets.

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