Building and Maintenance of Social Capital in Rural Farming Community of the Western Hills of Nepal

Abstract

Farmers' cooperatives are considered social capital dependent organization. Fostering the development of social capital and its maintenance would help improve the performance of farmers' cooperatives. Multiple case studies of agriculture cooperatives from Western Hills of Nepal were carried out to explore what prompts the building of the social capital and what factors influence the maintenance of this capital in farming communities. Finding shows that ‘extension and rural development intervention', ‘access to external supports and benefits', and ‘existing economic potential' in the form of market-oriented vegetable production were the drivers of social capital building. Similarly, ‘leadership', ‘good governance', and ‘members' commitment' influenced maintenance of social capital within the framework of case study cooperatives. The finding concluded that channelizing extension services through cooperatives had a strong bearing on social capital building and that internal dynamics of cooperatives were critical in the maintenance of social capital. Some policy implications are given.