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Content: Farmers decide they must work together to improve their lives. They discuss forming a co-operative. They decide to buy their seeds in bulk, in order to negotiate a lower price. They decide to build a storage hut together, which they could share. By storing their rice when the selling price is low, they can wait until the price is higher and then take it to market. They also decide to take their rice to the market themselves, rather than selling their harvest to a middleman who offers a price that is too low. After establishing the co-operative, the farmers have more control of their lives.
Special note:
This play about forming a farming co-operative is designed for radio broadcast, but can easily be performed anywhere. It has been adapted from a radio drama published by the Asian Cultural Centre for UNESCO. It is impossible to provide names for the characters that are common to all the areas of the world, and we encourage the reader to adapt the cast names accordingly.
Notes:
Other DCFRN scripts which refer to subjects dealt with in this script are:
Solving a difficult problem marketing farm products – Package 1, Item 7
Better marketing of farm products – Package 3, Item 7
Getting higher prices for farm products – Package 10, Item 7
Farm credit: guidelines for small-scale farmers – Package 19, Item 7
Script
Introduction
HOST:
Today, we are presenting a play about farmers who form a co-operative. The farmers are having problems earning enough money to provide for their families, and so they decide to work as a group to help each other. They form a co-operative. A co-operative is a business that is owned and operated by its members. It should be open to anyone who can contribute and benefit from working together. The farmers in today’s play discover many ways they can co-operate with each other to make sure they get more for all their hard work. I hope this play will give you some ideas about how you can work together with the other farmers in your village.
CAST:
Agus: a diligent farmer
Roy: an honest farmer, Agus’s next door neighbour
Shillie: Roy’ wife, a woman of firm character
Ali: a stingy and selfish farmer
Kasim: co-op member from the next village
ACT 1:
SFX:
SOUNDS OF A THUNDERSTORM. AFTER A WHILE, THERE IS A VIOLENT BANGING ON THE DOOR
AGUS:
Hey, Roy! Open the door! It is Agus, your next door neighbour. Please open the door, Roy! (THE BANGING CONTINUES)
SHILLIE:
(IN A LOW BUT FIRM VOICE) Hey Roy, wake up. (PAUSE) Somebody is banging on the door. Wake up and see who it is.
ROY:
(YAWNING SLEEPILY) What is going on at this time of the night? What is the matter? Who is it?
SFX:
SOUND OF DOOR OPENING, SOUND OF THUNDER
AGUS:
It is me, Agus. My roof has collapsed! This storm has destroyed my house. I am lucky to be alive!
ROY:
(OVER AGUS’S PANTING) Are you O.K.? Have you been hurt?
AGUS:
No. I am fine. I got out of the house just in time. But I cannot go back there, with that huge hole in the roof! Can I stay here tonight, Roy?
ROY:
Of course, yes, stay here tonight. Tomorrow, we will buy the materials you need and fix your house as good as new.
AGUS:
All right, but Roy, I have no money to pay for these repairs. What shall I do? All my savings have gone because of the bad harvests for two years running.
Will the lumber man give me supplies on credit? Can I pay him later, do you think?
ROY:
I do not know. That is a problem. Money! We have not got enough money to lend you, either. Listen, Agus. Let us all go to sleep, and we will worry about your house in the morning.
AGUS:
(NERVOUSLY) Thanks, Roy. I really appreciate your help.
ACT 2:
LOCATION:
The next morning, outside Agus’s house.
SFX:
SOUND OF HAMMER HITTING NAILS, SOUNDS OF BIRDS CHIRPING
ROY:
O.K., Agus. Here is the last load of lumber. (DROPS WOOD WITH A THUD) Your house is looking better already.
AGUS:
(STOPS HAMMERING) Roy, thank you very much for what you did for me last night. But tell me, how did you collect the money to buy this wood? It was so much.
ROY:
I asked around the village. Everyone helped a little. Well, we all have our hard times. But only Ali did not lend me any. He is always like that. He is the only one who is not co-operative.
SHILLIE:
(ENTERING) Good morning, Agus. How are you doing?
AGUS:
I am very well, Shillie. Thank you very much for letting me stay in your home last night.
SHILLIE:
No thanks are necessary. I am just so relieved that the village worked together to lend you some money. But just think about the possibility of another accident like this happening during the next storm?
ROY:
Ah, a money lender might lend us some money, but even then, we will spend all our money just paying the interest. Nobody in the village has money to spare. Why is this village so poor?
AGUS:
I have had bad harvests two years running. The others must have had a fairly good harvest last year. But they did not seem to have gained much.
SHILLIE:
That is right. When there is a surplus harvest, the prices drop.
AGUS:
I sell my rice for 50 per kilogram. The middleman sells it for 120. He makes more on my rice than I do. But I have no way to go to market, so what can I do?
SHILLIE:
Listen. The whole village co-operated to get Agus the money to fix his roof. Why can we not all co-operate to make sure we have more to show for all our hard work in the fields?
ROY:
Yes. I know in the next village they have formed a co- operative that began as a savings and credit co- operative, but now they have even bought a beast of burden and cart and they now take their own produce to market.
SHILLIE:
We should ask someone from that village to talk to us about how we can arrange a co-operative like theirs?
ROY:
O.K., I will set up a meeting and ask Kasim from the next village to come and talk to us. Keep hammering, Agus.
SFX:
SOUND OF HAMMERING RESUMES, THEN FADES AS ACT 2 ENDS
ACT 3:
TIME:
A FEW DAYS LATER.
SFX:
SOUNDS OF A CROWD OF PEOPLE
ROY:
(RAISING HIS VOICE OVER THE VOICES OF THE OTHER VILLAGERS) Please be quiet! Quiet down everyone, and let us get this meeting started. We all know about the recent misfortune of our neighbour, Agus. He was very unlucky on the night of the thunderstorm, but we all worked together and temporarily solved a common problem. Agus, would you speak, please?
AGUS:
The first problem, as I know you all feel, is that the crops we grow after working so hard are bought up by middlemen so cheaply. If we could sell them directly to the market, our income will increase.
SHILLIE:
Another problem is that the prices of crops change a lot according to the season, and if there is a big harvest, prices will be low, so we have to sell them at a loss. We have no good storage sheds where we can keep the harvest protected until we can sell our produce at a good price. So we have thought about working together to build a large storage building.
AGUS:
Everybody, I want to thank you all very much for lending me money and helping me build a new roof. I was very afraid, because this was a problem I could not solve myself. You know this problem of having no money in emergencies has got me thinking. I think it would be wise to prepare for the next time. If we had savings, we could even borrow to get ahead. For example, I need seed and fertilizer for the coming year, and every year I have to go to the money lender. The interest keeps me poor. I have heard that Kasim has solved many of these problems in his village by forming a savings and credit co-operative. Ali, you have a question?
ALI:
Yes, I do. All this is fine talk, but just how can we to do all this? We have no money. Where will we get money for seeds besides from the money lender? Your dream is lovely, but how do you intend to make this dream come true?
ROY:
Please hear him out before you pass judgement. All the villagers can offer a little bit each.
ALI:
You must be joking! Do I look like a banker to you? (LAUGHTER FROM THE OTHER VILLAGERS)
KASIM:
To be able to solve these problems, we all need to co-operate. Our combined effort will make us strong.
ROY:
That is right, Kasim. (TO THE CROWD) The village next to us has succeeded because their farmers all joined together to help each other. They formed what they call a co-operative. Today I invited Kasim to attend our meeting. He can explain to us how the co-operative works, because he belongs to the co-operative in his own village.
KASIM:
Good afternoon, friends. You know, we had the sameproblem in our village as you have here now. But because of the co-operative, our lives have been much improved. For example, we no longer sell our crops from the field; we sell them ourselves at the city market. All the members saved their money until we could buy a wagon, and animals to pull it. We carry everyone’s product to town, and we drive a hard bargain with the buyers because our combined yield is so large, and the quality of our product is excellent. The profits from the sale go back into the pockets of the farmers. Most of it, that is. Each farmer has agreed to contribute an equal amount of money into a fund, a store of money. This fund is used to buy large quantities of seed and fertilizer, wholesale mind you, which is then distributed to the farmers at planting time. Some of the money is kept as an emergency fund to help people who need a loan at a difficult time. We also share our best farming techniques.
ALI:
This all sounds wonderful, but who will form this co-operative, and how will they do it?
KASIM:
Anyone in the village may join. At each meeting, people will bring a small amount of money to be deposited with the co-op. It does not have to be much, because soon it will add up to something. If you cannot bring money, you can bring a hen, or eggs or produce. Its value will be determined and you will be credited for your contribution. Each member will have one vote and will be involved in every decision. The members could elect a smaller group to be a board of directors, to set policy and supervise the operations of the co-op. But the members are always responsible for the co-operative and they must approve how their money is used. If there is a profit, the members must decide how to spend it.
ALI:
Even if every one of us gave what we could spare for this co-operative, it would not be enough to start a venture like the one you describe. How do you answer that?
KASIM:
You cannot form a co-operative in one day. It takes time. It may take many months to save the money and to work a plan for the business. Move cautiously. Make sure your plan will make a profit and can benefit everyone before you go ahead. And make sure that everyone who has a stake in the venture also has a say in how it is carried out.
SFX:
SOUNDS OF DISCUSSION
AGUS:
Well, shall we try? (UNCERTAINLY, AS IF TALKING TO HIMSELF)
SHILLIE:
Well, what have we got to lose? It is worth a try.
SFX:
SOUNDS OF VOICES RAISED IN APPROVAL … FADE OUT
ACT 4:
SFX:
SOUND OF DRAFT ANIMALS PULLING A WAGON. ALI YELLS TO THE ANIMALS TO STOP
ALI:
Hello, Agus. How is the harvest? I am collecting rice from everybody. Recently the price of rice has been up so I am going to deliver lots of it to the market as soon as I can.
AGUS:
Hello Ali. Well, you seem to be well-suited to co-op work. Who would have guessed it? Only a year ago you thought this co-operative would never be a success.
ALI:
Yes, I cannot believe I was so edgy back then. I just did not have any confidence in myself, and I did not trust my neighbours, and so I was afraid to try to work with anyone else. But since the establishment of the co-operative, I feel much more secure about my life; I feel like I am in control with the strength of the whole village behind me.
AGUS:
Shillie and Roy are bringing some rice. (AFTER A SHORT PAUSE, IN A LOUD VOICE) Hello! How is today’s harvest?
ROY:
Wonderful. It is the best yet.
SHILLIE:
Ali, try to sell it for as much as possible. You are such a good negotiator, I am sure you will.
ALI:
All right, do not worry. (SOUNDS OF THE WAGON PULLING AWAY)
SHILLIE:
(YELLING) Oh, and Ali, do not eat too many tomatoes at the market, or pretty soon you will look like a fat tomato yourself! (EVERYBODY LAUGHS)
SFX:
MUSIC IN, FADE OUT
Summary
These farmers have decided to form a co-operative in their village. They met to discuss their problems. They determined why they were not making enough money from their farms. They decided that if they combined their efforts, they could increase their profits and start a fund which will help them in case of emergencies. A man from the next village gave them good advice about the basic rules to follow when starting a co-operative. One year later, the co-operative is operating smoothly, and the farmers feel much more secure about their future.
Information sources
Mary Lou Morgan, consultant for DCFRN and the Canadian Co-operative Association.