Pêşketin Co-operative Society is one of the co-operatives that has taken an important position in the region of Derik. It is divided into two parts, livestock and agriculture. The co-operative has accomplished partial self-sufficiency since its inception, and it has a participatory nature.
Pêşketin co-op includes 273 members, most of them belong to the middle class. The Board of Directors of the co-op consists of 15 members, among them are four monitors and an accountant. The Board of Directors oversee and develop the co-op.
Ibrahim Ibrahim, Co-chair of the House of Co-operatives, talked about what they have done during harvest. He said, “The harvest started on 15 June. In this season we’ve had less rain and therefore we had less produce compared to the previous years, and some of the harvests like chickpeas and lentils have been damaged because of lack of rain and also diseases which are caused by pests. Wheat produce, on the other hand, has been abundant, amounting to 420,190 kilograms. We’ve had 1,200 bags of barley and 457 bags of chickpeas.”
And about the normalisation of the co-operative spirit during the work in the agricultural co-op, Ibrahim said, “I can say that we have applied the whole notion of co-operative work, through participation among all the members of the co-op, without having to employ more people, and in an attempt to apply the idea of joint labour.”
And about the latest developments of the livestock co-op in the village of Khan Meshk, Ibarahim said that there are 411 sheep in the village including the small ones. 60 more sheep have already been sold. The sheep are taken care of by a carer, and medically supervised by veterinarians. There is a small dairy factory nearby, and the dairy is sold in the markets at affordable prices.
Ibrahim mentioned that there are more advanced projects underway, including returning old water wells to service in order to use them to irrigate the agricultural land of the co-operative society, which will be invested to plant summer vegetables. There will also be a project of a chicken farm.
There will be more meetings and discussions in all the communes of the villages to explain the idea of co-operatives and how to get involved in them.
