Minister lays out cooperatives' policy

"It will facilitate the contribution of cooperative societies to income distribution, employment creation and poverty reduction at the local community level.  Its primary goal is to create pragmatic ways of mobilising and encouraging people to take responsibility for enhancing their quality of life through self-help, self-responsibility and cooperation with others," Mokalake said. 

The cooperatives are grouped into 'service' and 'producer-worker' types. The service cooperatives comprise consumer, multi-purpose and marketing cooperatives that will provide a variety of services such as trading, marketing of agricultural products as well as savings and money lending services to their members.