FISHCOPFED Managing Director B K Mishra interviewed the President of ICA Mrs Dame Pauline on the sidelines of World Fisheries Cooperative Day celebrations. An excerpt as provided by Mr Mishra for the benefit of Indian Cooperative readers
Question: Please share your experiences about the World Fisheries Cooperative Day which you participated at Surabaya.
Answer : This was the 3rd World Fisheries Co-operative Day – and the most successful. There were more countries represented at the event and a record number of delegates.
But most important, this seminar showed the determination of the fishery co-operatives present to try and use this moment, after the International Year of Co-operatives in 2012, to rededicate themselves to building more and stronger fishery co-ops around the world.
They see that in terms of the environment, food security, community cohesion and employment, co-operatives are a sustainable fishery option in a difficult world economic situation.
I learnt a great deal about the lives of fishermen and the communities they serve, and I had the opportunity to visit a traditional long line co-op in Bali catching quality sardines and yellow fin tuna, but struggling to take their families out of poverty because of the low prices for their catch from the private sector middleman.
At US$ 50 cents for a kilo of sardines and USD 4 for a kilo of tuna, you can understand why! We know that investment in a co-operative supply chain that kept the marketing and distribution of the fish in the hands of the fishermen themselves could be the difference between being in poverty and lifting out of poverty.
Perhaps we need to concentrate on a detailed analysis of that business option as one of the fastest ways of creating a better life for the fishermen and their families in the developing world in particular.
Question: What are your views about ICFO and ICA’s future plans for strengthening ICFO?
Answer: Firstly, I think we need to do some seriously good business analysis of options such as the one I described above. Perhaps the best way to support the grass roots fishery sector is to enable them to grow to the next level of business development. In that way, they can take leadership over providing the needs of their own co-operative and community.
The needs are self-evident, and the potential is there. We just need to put it together and perhaps this is a job for ICFO with parts of the co-op movement. For instance we have a Research Committee.
Maybe a detailed analysis of the development needs of this sector based on a pragmatic grass roots approach could kick start our work in this field. The ICA is also negotiating a Partnership Agreement with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations – we need to ensure that fisheries are clearly part of that discussion.
The ICA is opening up the global doors for discussions with a host of major public funding donors and strategists, and ICFO has the expertise and knows the needs of the movement. Working together we should be able to put some energy into this debate in the coming months.
Question: Knowing about FISHCOPFED, India, what is your advise for the federation for the future?
Answer: FISHCOPFED is doing an excellent job in providing a solid level of insurance for grass roots farmers through working with government to secure funding for some of the poorest fishing communities in India.
I congratulate you on that work which protects those that the private sector simply do not think worth are the risk. This is what makes a co-operative different from a company or a corporation. We put people at the heart of our economic decision-making and not just the chase for the maximum profitability.
As for the future, I would say, as I do to all co-operatives, make sure that your co-operative is not dependent on a single overwhelmingly powerful funder. The essence of co-operatives is that the key decision-makers are the members themselves and it must be them that always make the strategic decisions on its direction.
To do this they need to be advised by good, competent professional management, and they need to look to their risk analysis and ensure that no one partner is so powerful, that any decision to end a contract or remove funding would cause a catastrophic collapse of the business.
However, it is clear that FISHCOPFED is a powerful tool for the fishing community, is developing solid secondary business proposals that diversify and strengthen their independent funding status, and I look forward to seeing it grow even more into the future.