Record keeping that gets cooperatives financed

Every lender who declines a cooperative says a version of the same sentence: "We could not see the business." Four simple books make the business visible.

The four books

• Member register: every farmer, farm size, plot IDs - the production base.
• Delivery book: date, member, wet/dry weight, quality notes - the throughput.
• Sales book: buyer, lot, grade, price, payment date - the revenue.
• Cash book: every leone and dollar in and out - the discipline.

Kept honestly for one full season, these books become a bankable file: they prove volumes, show seasonality, and demonstrate that money moves through accounts rather than pockets. Cluster finance members offer harvest-season working capital against exactly this evidence - see the services directory under Finance & Credit.