The Fernheim Cooperative of the mennonite immigrants of Philadelphia, Paraguay

Abstract:

This article aims to analyze the mediation exercised by the Fernheim Cooperative of Philadelphia, Paraguay, between the producer, the commercialization and the industrialization of the product. The Cooperative plays an important role for the regional development of the Central Chaco, not only from the industrialization of products and commercialization, but also with the innovations implanted for the handling of water. The problematization of the object of study is oriented to the following questions: What are the actions carried out by the Fernheim Cooperative that promote the economic and social development of the cooperative? What is the importance of the Cooperative for the commercialization and industrialization of products? How is the financial application of the Cooperative effected and to which sectors are the credits of the cooperatives directed? What are the technological innovations developed by the Cooperative for the treatment of brackish water that help in the development of the municipality? The questions are summed up in the specific objectives: to verify the productive activities that the Cooperative offers to the rural producer, as support to the financing, purchase and industrialization of the vegetal and animal products; and analyze the technological innovations that made possible the supply and consumption of water, originally brackish. The data systematization was performed by Bardin Content Analysis. As a theoretical contribution, we adopted the theory of history that investigated the details of the economic and social actions carried out by the Cooperative, considered as singular manifestations of the general movement of capital.

Keywords:
growth; social development; cooperativism; family work