Moldova’s Agrostoc Input Supply Cooperative is one of the country’s most successful and viable cooperatives, providing its members and other rural agribusinesses with quality crop input supplies including seeds, chemicals, fertilizers and farm machinery.
It represents 92 members including 45 farm stores and reached an annual turnover of more than $12 million in 2008, a $5 million increase from 2007. In 2006, the cooperative also started in a new direction: export.
Still, the road for any cooperative can be a bumpy one, and since its establishment in 2001, Agrostoc has faced the many obstacles that all cooperatives encounter, both in the U.S. and the developing world.
But with the help of CNFA’s USAID-funded Farmer-to-Farmer program—which has placed a total of 11 volunteers at Agrostoc along every stage of its development—Agrostoc Input Supply Cooperative has met these challenges and flourished.
“We are very proud of what Agrostoc has become today,” Agrostoc President Igor Tagadiuc said. “Our members trust Agrostoc as a profitable cooperative with a stable future. And while the business environment in Moldova brings many challenges, we have learned that our joint effort and cooperation will bring the best solutions.”
While Agrostoc established itself as an ambitious fledgling cooperative in its first few years, CNFA volunteers equipped staff with basic knowledge and skills essential for the cooperative and its members’ growth.
For instance, CNFA sent volunteer William Dahnke on three trips to Chisinau in 2002 and 2003 to reintroduce soil testing practices into farm store operations.
Not only did he and Agrostoc’s agronomist instruct the local agronomic staff on techniques and advantages of soil testing but they also explained how to interpret the results and use fertilizer accordingly, leading to a 31% increase in the quantity of fertilizer sold by farm stores that year.
But more important was the shift in farmers’ mentality regarding the use of fertilizer. Agrostoc now makes it a requirement for farm stores to provide each customer with concrete recommendations regarding fertilizer application, which has become quite popular among farmers. Agrostoc partnered up with Hydrometeo Soil Testing Laboratory to provide member farm stores with affordable services in the area, making it very convenient for farmers to access accurate information regarding safe and proper use of fertilizer.
Although Dahnke’s first two trips were individual assignments at the special request of Agrostoc, the assignments were so successful they led to the development of longer-term project strategies.
Seven years later, CNFA continues to meet Agrostoc’s training needs, which have changed as the cooperative grows.
However, growth is sometimes accompanied by growing pains, something volunteer Gerald Bahensky discovered in April 2007 when the company had accumulated an excessive amount of overdue accounts receivable and was struggling to pay normal operating expenses and purchase more products to sell. Bahensky had seen this situation before, having assisted U.S. cooperatives grappling with the same issues in the 1980s, and worked with Agrostoc staff to determine and address causative factors.
Only months later, equipped with Bahensky’s recommendations, Agrostoc had already turned the situation around.
After revisiting Moldova in November 2007, Bahensky said Agrostoc had made substantial progress collecting overdue accounts receivables, had revised its credit policy and had increased sales and profitability, saving Agrostoc from the brink of a financial crisis that sends many cooperatives into bankruptcy.
“I am confident that Agrostoc’s Board and Management are working much more as a team in addressing their financial crisis,” Bahensky said on his return. “The cooperative’s profit this year has been substantial. They are making better progress than I expected.”
Now firmly established, this young business is focusing on ways it can expand and ensure continued success in years to come.
Most recently, volunteer Bryce Malsbary returned from an assignment in March, when he worked with the cooperative’s new human resources director, training her in key responsibilities such as job recruitment and staff motivation.
In upcoming months, CNFA plans to send three more volunteers who will assist Agrostoc in expanding its products and services, such as the development of a fruit and vegetable packing house, which in turn will increase the cooperative’s annual revenue and member base.
Updated August 6, 2009
