The current agricultural sector of Korea has severely been suffering from the unequal economic development strategies since 1962 and the import liberalization of agricultural products under the World Trade Organization(WTO) since 1995 and the Free Tra...
The current agricultural sector of Korea has severely been suffering from the unequal economic development strategies since 1962 and the import liberalization of agricultural products under the World Trade Organization(WTO) since 1995 and the Free Trade Agreement(FTA) between Korea and Chile since 2004. Therefore, it is very important that in today's farm economy the cooperatives must have played a leading role to assist farmers in achieving farm income and market competitiveness under the current situation which is ever-changing domestic and international agricultural environments.
The purpose of this study was (1) to analyze the current status of the marketing business of local cooperatives in producing area by field survey which was conducted to the local cooperatives' sample members, (2) to identify the problems which are currently confronted with the marketing business of local cooperatives, and (3) to seek some feasible strategies for improving and activating the marketing business of local cooperatives.
Some major findings and consequences of the study can be summarized as follows:
First of all, the selling ratio through the local cooperatives of the agricultural products producing cooperatives' members was a little low at 26.5 percent. Also, the major factors positively affecting the selling of local cooperatives were identified to be the convenience of local cooperatives' selling method(42.7 percent) and the good trust on local cooperatives(39.5 percent).
Secondly, based on the preference analysis of the services related marketing business provided by the local cooperatives, it was found out that the dissatisfaction ratio of the services was higher the activity of market development, the ability of sales staffs in local cooperatives and the price information services than those of the joint transportation and marketing facilities in producing area.
Thirdly, it was identified that the marketing business of local cooperatives has several problems to be solved to improve the marketing business' operation and economic efficiencies, including the low participation of cooperatives' members in marketing business, the depression of the joint selling activities, and the decreasing of profitability according to performance of marketing business in local cooperatives.
To the end, in order to solve various problems mentioned above and activate the marketing business of local cooperatives, it can be said that under the situation of the rapidly changing agricultural environments the point places emphasis on the specialization in the marketing business of local cooperatives and the positive willingness and the constructive participation of the cooperatives' members, namely producers, in performing the marketing business. Together with this, it is strongly recommended that in the near future the "joint marketing business among local cooperatives" should be necessarily adopted in the level of producing area to upgrade the current disorderly marketing business of local cooperatives.