JA stands for an agricultural cooperative that engages in business activities based on the participation and cooperative efforts of its members, while those members are organizers, shareholders as well as users of the JA. JA's business activities focus on promptly providing goods and services at adequate prices to meet the needs of its members. Furthermore, the wishes and opinions of JA's members are reflected not only into its business operation, but also into its organizational administration in a democratic manner.

JA board members are basically elected from among the JA members at its general assembly or general representative assembly, which is generally held once a year to decide its business plan. JAs also promote their organizational management to ensure participation of its members in the administration and application of their proposals and suggestions into the business activities through organizing various meetings and associations of member farmers and their family members, including members’ gatherings at village level, steering committees at branch office level, commodity-wise producer groups, youth organizations, women's associations, young wives associations, and service users’ groups such as pensioners’1 associations.

A Typical Example of JA’s Administrative Structure
The general (representatives') meeting of JA is its supreme decision-making body, which is generally held once a year to decide its management policies, business plans, and business and financial reports, as well as elect its board members including auditors.

Representative members of JA, who are to join the general representative meeting, are elected from among its regular members every three years.
The number of those representatives to be allocated for each village or community in the business territory of the JA is generally fixed by the JA, while one representative member is elected from among each 500 regular members in most cases.

Representative members also play the role of JA's "supervisors" who participate in its management on behalf of the JA members.

Most of JAs regularly organize "informal representative members' gatherings" at village level, though which JA officials gather members' proposals and suggestions on improvements of JA's activities.

Many JAs hold "roung-table talks" at hamlet(or community)level a couple of times every year by inviting all the members to directly exchange views with them.

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