Rural credit and cooperative development project in Guatemala

The report first reviews the recent history of Guatemalan rural development and provides background information on the project"s target group -- low income farmers living in extreme poverty on a limited arable land base. The report next discusses the role of cooperatives in providing farmers with access to credit services, marketing aids, and modern agricultural inputs. The remainder of the report describes the design and implementation of the three projects. In the first, AID sponsored the establishment (1971) of six small farmer cooperatives which in 1973 combined to form a federation, (FECOAC), which acts as a wholesale and marketing service. The growth and present operation of the second cooperative venture, the large credit union FENACOAC is discussed in detail and the services and membership characteristics of FECOAR and FENACOAC are compared. Finally, the third private organization, the Penny Foundation, is described: its primary purpose is providing loans to landless peasants currently beyond the reach of existing cooperatives.