A cooperative society is defined as a voluntary business organization in which a group of people with common interests pool their resources to promote the economy and the well-being of its members in the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. Producer-consumer cooperative societies are engaged in the distribution of products directly from the manufacturer or from wholesalers and sell to their members/consumers at reduced prices.
Government, on the other hand, whether at the federal, state or local level, has an important role to play in the distribution of goods or commodities. The government can participate in the distribution of basic products through the establishment of distribution agencies. The role of the government is the distribution of commodities, it is the basic responsibilities that a government should carry out, such as: provision of transportation system, provision of storage facilities, price control, price stabilization, prevention of shortages artificial, import of essential products and establishment. of the communication system.
The functions of cooperative societies are the following:
1. Variety of Stocks of Goods: Consumer cooperatives buy a variety of goods from the manufacturer or wholesaler, so they are exposed to a wide range of goods.
2. Sell in small quantities to members: Cooperative societies buy in reasonable quantities from the wholesaler and sell in parts to members.
3. Grant credit facilities to the members: The cooperative society can grant facilities to the members so that they can enjoy the assets without payment immediately.
4. Giving advice: The cooperative society also gives advice to its members (consumers) as well as manufacturers/wholesalers.
5. Bring the products closer to the members: They also ensure that the products reach the doorstep of the consumers (members).
6. Fight Hoarding: They fight hoarding by wholesalers and retainers by making sure to stock lots of the products for member (consumer) use.
7. Stabilize prices: They also help stabilize the prices of goods by selling them at prices that are affordable to members.
8. Elimination of Middlemen: They can eliminate the activities of middlemen by buying their products directly from manufacturers and selling directly to consumers (members).
9. Marketing of members’ products: They also assist their members in marketing their products (ie producer cooperative society) by ensuring fair prices for their products.
African countries and other developing nations face the challenges of benefiting from the role of government. Especially in countries where the government is corrupt. They enact policies and form agencies, but they do not function adequately to achieve their goals. Take, for example, in Nigeria. Nigerian National Supply Company Limited (NNSC) was created in 1972 to complement private efforts in product distribution. Now it is dying and as good as if it had not been created. Several marketing boards of various products were established to improve the marketing of products in the country and the Hydrographic Basin Authorities were also established to encourage the large production and distribution of agricultural products. Are these agencies working now? If so, Nigeria would have been much better than its current state.