Speaking at a week-long meeting of the World Cooperatives Congress in Manchester, England, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Director-General, José Graziano da Silva, told gathered delegates that cooperatives can help small- and medium-scale farmers and fishermen add value to their production and gain access to wider markets.

“Cooperatives follow core values and principles that are critical to doing business in an equitable manner, that seeks to empower and benefits its members and the community it is inserted in,” said Graziano da Silva.

“This is especially relevant in poor rural communities, where joining forces is central to promoting sustainable local development,” he added.

Graziano da Silva stated that in a world that produces enough food for all and despite gains in the fight against hunger, it was “unacceptable” that close to 870 million people continue to suffer from chronic malnutrition. He further stated that greater cooperativization would help reduce hunger and poverty across poor rural communities.

“Whether you are in the UK, Brazil, Kenya, Thailand, or Nepal, cooperatives help to generate employment, boost national economies and reduce poverty,” he noted. “This, in turn, helps to improve food security.”

The FAO chief emphasized that his agency was committed to fostering the growth of agricultural cooperatives around the world and hinted at the appointment of special ambassadors for cooperatives to promote the issue, as well as develop approaches, guidelines, methodologies and training tools on organizational development and policy.

Moreover, he called on those gathered to contribute to the global plan of action expected to emerge from events held in honour of the International Year of Cooperatives – a year-long celebration currently being observed in 2012.

The report describes a gloomy situation for the country. According to the report:

“Young people have been hit especially hard by the crisis. Youth unemployment ended at 45% in the third quarter of 2011 (48% in November 2011), twice as high as two years ago. Young people are also contributing especially heavily to the increase in long-term unemployment. In the third quarter of 2011, some 45% of the unemployed aged 15 to 24 were long-term unemployed, against 30% two years earlier.

Access to life-long learning is far below the EU average, for all age groups. Just 3% of the active population participated in education or training in 2010, compared with 9% at EU level. 7% of young adults between 25 and 34 participated in education or training, against 15% at EU level. At the other end of their active life, adults between 55 and 64 also show a very low participation rate: 0.5% against 4.5% for the EU.

Gross disposable household income decreased by 9.3% in 2010. Income losses have been far greater for the rich than for the poor in absolute terms. However, in relative terms (i.e. as a proportion of their income), lower-income groups suffered a significant loss of income. Households in the bottom quintile (i.e. the poorest 20% of the population) lost an estimated 9% of their income, compared with 11% for households in the top quintile.

The overall at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion rate for the total population stood at 27.7% in 2010, higher than the EU27 average of 23.4%. The risk-of-poverty (income-poor) rate was 20.1% in 2010, following an increase from 19.7% in 2009, whereas the EU average is 16.4%. The risk of poverty for children (23.0%) is higher than the EU average, which stood at 20.6% in 2010.

The in-work poverty rate in Greece was the second highest in the EU in 2010. Besides low earnings, in-work poverty depends on the employment status of all members of the household and on the availability and adequacy of social transfers, including in-work benefits. The household work intensity (measuring the degree to which all members of the household realise their full labour market potential) in Greece is one of the lowest in the EU, essentially due to the lower labour market participation by women. Tax credits/rebates and benefits for low-wage workers are less common in Greece than in other Member States and are often much lower.”