Marking the International year of a Cooperatives 2012, a seminar on “21st Century Marketing Strategies for Cooperatives” was conducted at Jubliee Hall, Hyderabad by Department of Cooperation in collaboration with GoCoop Solutions and Services Pvt. Ltd. The Seminar was inaugurated by the Hon’ble Minister for Cooperation, Sri Kasu Venkata Krishna Reddy along with Sri IYR Krishna Rao garu, Special Chief Secretary, Agriculture & Cooperation, Sri Chandra Pal Singh Yadav garu, President, National Cooperative Union India and Sri Praveen Reddy garu, President, Mulkanoor Cooperative Society, IFFCO Board Member.

The Hon’ble Minister, while addressing the gathering of over 200 delegates, emphasized the need for providing fair market prices for farmers’ and artisans’ products. He opined that both producers & Consumers are being adversely affected due to the exploitation by the commission agents and other middle men. He said that IT – Based Marketing Organizations are the need of the hour for the Cooperative Sector to address these challenges. The Hon’ble Minister has called for a close collaboration between the Department of Cooperation and Department of Marketing with renewed focus on Marketing.

Sri IYR Krishna Rao garu, Special Chief Secretary to Govt. Dept. of Agriculture & Cooperation, emphasized that Marketing is more complex as compared to the production. He further added that today, new opportunities from globalization should be leveraged for Cooperative Marketing. Talking about ITC e-choupal initiative, he suggested that marketing centers should be developed into knowledge centers. Leveraging internet & Communication technology, farmers can effectively deal with issues like commodity price fluctuations.

Sri I.S. Srinaresh garu, Commissioner & Registrar for Cooperative Societies, explained the different initiatives taken up by the Department on the occasion of International Year of Cooperatives 2012. He suggested that the Cooperative Societies should leverage Organizations like GoCoop to improve the marketing capabilities.

Sri Chandra Pal Singh Yadav garu, President NCUI talked about changes in National & International Markets.

Mr. Siva Devireddy, Managing Director, GoCoop Solutions and Services Pvt. Ltd., explained how internet can be leveraged by rural based Cooperative Societies to sell their products to regional, national and Global Markets. He also showcased the GoCoop.com online platform for Cooperatives and Self-help Groups (SHGs) which has over 2000 Co-ops registered and is providing marketing and collaboration services to promote the Cooperative organizations.

Sri Praveen Reddy garu, President, Mulkanoor Cooperative Society, Karimnagar district, explained about how they are providing loans, marketing and welfare services under one umbrella. Sri Kadmiel garu, Managing Director, MARKFED answered questions raised by the delegates. Sri Arjuna Rao garu, Additional Registrar, MD APCOB, and representative from SERP also participated in the seminar.

Mr. Tashi Wangdu garu, CEO, Tibetan Cooperative Federation of India, Sri Md. Ali Rafath garu, MD,APDDCF, RegionalDirector, NCDC explained marketing efforts of their organizations. Both these Organizations stated that they e-Marketing Societies provided by GoCoop.

The Commissioner of Cooperatives thanked the organizers and delegates for conducting a successful seminar on 21st Century Marketing Strategies.