i@40. iTeam iCRiSAT, a creative cooperative

MANILA – Today at 40, ICRISAT is #1 among the 15 international centers of agriculture of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. This pre-eminence was achieved in about 10 years by Team ICRISAT, with Director General William Dar as Team Captain.

Metaphor: ICRISAT @ 40 is ready to take on the world, middle-aged, at the 7th stage of life, according to Erik Erikson: "Ego Development Outcome: Generativity vs Self-absorption or Stagnation" with "Basic Strengths: Production and Care" (support4change.com). This is the time when, Erikson says, "we tend to be occupied with creative and meaningful work and with issues surrounding our family. Also, middle adulthood is when we can expect to 'be in charge,' the role we've (long) envied."

Another metaphor: We have just registered Nagkaisa, a multipurpose cooperative in my hometown of Asingan, Pangasinan in Central Luzon, the Philippines. Board Member or not, because I want our coop to be extra-successful, I've started studying what makes cooperatives successful. In my study, one of the early insights I've gained is that iTeam iCRiSAT, that is, integrated ICRISAT & Partners, are in fact operating as a coop, even if The iTeam doesn't realize it. iTeam iCRiSAT is a 4 Ps partnership: proponents of science, public, private, people. Likewise, Nagkaisa should be a 4 Ps partnership: proponents of village growth, public, private, people.

Coop Rule: One member, one vote. In Nagkaisa, we must limit each of our investors, big or small, to only one vote. In iTeam iCRiSAT, each poor farmer is a voter. In the Adarsha watershed success story, the villagers were voters, including the women. Without their votes of confidence in the beginning, Adarsha would not have emerged as a model for village development.

Families as targets. Nagkaisa aims to address the needs of families for low-cost but high-quality products and services. If coops are to fulfil their roles in society, they all must aim for the greatest good for the greatest number. In the case of iTeam iCRiSAT, there are families upon families of the poor in the drylands of Africa, Asia, and South America. The targets of The iTeam are at least 670 million poor people in the dryland tropics, with 300 million living on less than 1 dollar a day, in absolute poverty; with child malnutrition occurring more than 40% in dryland Asia and 27% in dryland Africa.

A Producer's Coop. "Generativity" is "the ability to originate, produce, or procreate" (American Heritage Dictionary). Nagkaisa will be a producer coop. Likewise, iTeam iCRiSAT makes up a producer's cooperative. The iTeam generates new, improved seeds and technologies. Seeds include stress-resistant varieties of chickpea, peanut, pearl millet, pigeon pea, sweet sorghum and other crops. Technologies include the inexpensive ELISA test for the presence or absence of aflatoxin in peanut for export, as well as the water-efficient African Market Garden setup for dryland gardening especially suited for women.

Coop inventory. Nagkaisa will maintain inventory of ready-to-sell merchandise. And so will iTeam iCRiSAT maintain inventories of merchandise. Such could be those seeds and those technologies; fortunately, these stocks do not rot and do not need refrigeration - in fact, they need airing. It is the customers who are unable to keep up with the supply, not The iTeam who is unable to keep up with the demand.

In charge. Nagkaisa needs managers who inspire corporate visioning, missioning, and strategizing. The last 12 years of ICRISAT has been a continuing lesson in quiet, inspired management as the key that opens the doors of opportunities when surrounded by obstacles. ICRISAT had been moribund, but with William Dar's servant leadership, it started it on its way to productive life and institutional greatness.

Customer relations. Continuing and complementary customer relations are very necessary for Nagkaisa to succeed. iTeam iCRiSAT must serve its clients well too. "The seller has to balance supply and demand, deliver what is promised, and nurture relationships with customers," and that must include the coop members themselves (Heather Smith Thomas, 2006, westerncowman.com). For The iTeam, technologies are much like orphans until they are adopted by clients.

Profits. In one, Nagkaisa is out to make a profit to plow back into more products and services. In the other, iTeam iCRiSAT customers are in fact producers themselves earning their appropriate profit. Reports of incomes the producers make are the vicarious profits that The iTeam enjoys.

Goals. Nagkaisa's goal is to serve its members low-cost products and services. iTeam iCRiSAT's goal is the same, with the added and ultimate end of farming families becoming self-reliant.

Pricing. It might be well for Nagkaisa to keep its pricing steady. "We keep our pricing pretty stable," says Dan Barnhart; "We don't base it on the market plus a premium" (Thomas as cited). The problem with considering iTeam iCRiSAT as one big coop is that its products and services are actually priceless - it is not the customers who pay but the public and private investors in science.

Returns on investment. To be successful, Nagkaisa must aim for higher returns on investments even as it provides higher-quality products and services to the members. To be successful, iTeam iCRiSAT must compute similarly. Director General William Dar says that for every US$1 spent on farm research, there is a return on investment of US$9 in terms of returns to growth and poverty reduction. A coop increases returns to consumers; so does iTeam iCRiSAT to the poor farmers of the drylands.

Risk reduction. With Nagkaisa, cooperativism is itself an edge on risk right from the start. With iTeam iCRiSAT, the products and services are dedicated to reducing risks.

Sources of funds. On one hand, Nagkaisa's sources of funds are its members, as well as grants from governments and private institutions and individuals, and net returns on investments. To be successful, it must become self-reliant. On the other hand, iTeam iCRiSAT's sources of funds are limited to grants from governments, private institutions and individuals. To be successful, The iTeam must make its customers self-reliant.

As producer & marketing coops. We fancy our Nagkaisa as a producer and marketing coop. Marketing is necessary: product positioning, packaging, pricing, and promotion. iTeam iCRiSAT must see itself as a producer and marketing coop, too. Both kinds of coops must come up with innovative products and services to stay on top. Like, for Nagkaisa, creative work will include kitchen-ready complete packages of vegetables, spices, condiments and shreds of meat. Like, The iTeam has come up with the Tropicultor, a multi-function, affordable cultivator for the drylands.

Even with coops, innovation is the name of the game.