The new cooperative model in the OHADA area: a tool for the professionalization of farmers' organizations?
The Uniform Act on the Law of Cooperative Societies is the ninth legal instrument adopted by the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA). It aims to promote the economic development of cooperatives in the OHADA region by standardizing and adapting their legal status. For agricultural organizations with an economic vocation, whether cooperative or not, the implementation of this community text presents a dual challenge. The first relates to the understanding and flexibility available to the States Parties in the national implementation of the ninth Uniform Act. The second challenge concerns the ability of producer organizations to integrate and apply all the legal obligations arising from the new text. Therefore, the success of the Uniform Act on the Law of Cooperative Societies will rest on the balance to be found between strengthening the socio-economic capacities of agricultural organizations and the risk of their further weakening due to a sudden legal transition.
