The study describes the ownership and governance characteristics and the challenges of farmer-based cooperative societies from three districts in the Upper West Region of Ghana. Primary data were obtained from 59 active and 14 inactive cooperatives in the selected districts. The study concludes that Ghanaian cooperatives in the sample bear much resemblance to the traditional form which emerged in Europe and North America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Generally, such cooperatives have relatively small memberships from local communities who use a democratic governance system and do not delegate control to outsiders. While the cost of owning and transacting is limited with such characteristics, many traditional cooperatives lack the specific knowledge, economic efficiency, and resource endowment necessary to become or remain competitive. Indeed, the active cooperatives listed finance, access to inputs, tractor services and poor leadership as key challenges, while inactive cooperatives blamed poor member commitment as the primary culprit for their inactivity. Efforts aimed at promoting and supporting farmer cooperatives should focus on addressing these key challenges. Also, financial and technical support should probably be conditional on group performance and not group formation itself.

中文翻译：

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加纳上西部地区农民合作社的特征

该研究描述了加纳上西部地区三个地区以农民为基础的合作社的所有权和治理特征以及挑战。主要数据来自选定地区的 59 个活跃和 14 个不活跃的合作社。研究得出结论，样本中的加纳合作社与 19 世纪末和 20 世纪初在欧洲和北美出现的传统形式非常相似。一般而言，此类合作社的当地社区成员较少，他们使用民主治理体系，不会将控制权委托给外来者。虽然拥有和交易的成本受到这些特征的限制，但许多传统合作社缺乏成为或保持竞争力所需的特定知识、经济效率和资源禀赋。事实上，活跃的合作社将资金、投入品的获取、拖拉机服务和领导不力列为主要挑战，而不活跃的合作社则将成员承诺不足归咎于他们不活跃的主要原因。旨在促进和支持农民合作社的努力应侧重于应对这些关键挑战。此外，财务和技术支持可能应该以团队绩效而不是团队组建本身为条件。