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hand against more professional, business-oriented management practices on the other. Thus the burgeoning interest in farmer cooperatives in Ethiopia is not amenable to the one-size-fits-all strategy that is rapidly evolving. Critics may argue that these findings are specific to grain-marketing coop- eratives in Ethiopia and are an exception to the general trend found in the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa. In response, we would suggest that the Ethiopian experience provides more of a model than critics might recognize. Apart from the historical similarities with other Sub-Saharan African countries—the imposition of state control over grain marketing and the manipulation of cooperatives for political ends—Ethiopia’s more recent experience suggests that large-scale investment in promoting smallholder cooperatives and com- mercialization is not without significant challenges.


Nevertheless, provided that these challenges are acknowledged and ac- counted for in the design of policies and choices for investment, there is great potential for RPOs to play a central role in smallholder commercializa- tion. With this in mind, we offer the following recommendations based on the findings of this study. 1. Cooperatives are not a silver bullet for removing the constraints to small- holder commercialization. Cooperatives are beset by unique—and often intractable—challenges relating to their agenda, structure, membership, management, and governance.


2. Cooperatives are not necessarily an efficient means of targeting the poor- est of the poor. Alternative and complementary support mechanisms must be used to protect more vulnerable social groups and, over time, increase their capacity to participate effectively in cooperatives.


3. Cooperatives must be free to choose their own agendas and to develop the management and governance systems that are most appropriate to their agendas. Although external actors, such as public agencies and NGOs, may have a role to play in building cooperative members’ capacity to govern and manage their own organization, they can do irreparable harm to the organization’s future capacity to serve its members by imposing their own agenda. This issue is particularly important with respect to the imposition of nonmarketing activities on cooperatives that are formed for and dedi- cated to commercialization.


Although more theoretical and empirical work is needed to fully understand the inherent challenges and trade-offs in smallholder organization, there are lessons to be learned here for other initiatives promoting RPOs in Sub-Saharan Africa. Sovereign governments, international donors, and development prac- titioners have moved to reinstate RPOs squarely on the global development agenda. As these actors move forward with investments based on a limited


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