Focus on cooperatives: only with a strong foundation can we go far

The three elements of "money, land and people" are to agricultural cooperatives what sunshine, air and water are to people. It all depends on whether these elements can support the life and sustainable development of the co-operatives. A few days ago, the reporter went to Fengqiu County, Xinxiang City, Henan Province, and Shenqiu County, Zhoukou City, and found that cooperatives were faced with multiple difficulties such as failure to get loans, slow structural adjustment, and high costs. Although the county-level government has increased support, cooperatives need not only more policy innovation, but also improve the self-development mechanism as soon as possible in order to "strengthen their health", develop and grow, and play a leading role in getting rich.

Supplementary funds--

Raspberry delicacy needs cold storage, honeysuckle picking needs working capital, and some cooperatives have not lent a penny for six years.

The Qingdui Raspberry Cooperative, where Wang Shuqin belongs, is one of the best cooperatives in Fengqiu County-- wearing the laurel of a "national demonstration cooperative." it has more than 10 million yuan in assets and an annual operating income of more than 20 million yuan, driving more than 6000 farmers inside and outside the province, but they are still short of money.

Originally, the co-operatives were not short of money. The annual harvest of raspberries costs more than 50 million yuan in working capital. Wang Shuqin can always lend out more than 10 million yuan through the company mortgage and the joint insurance of the members. If the business is smooth, turnover will not be a problem. However, last year, the cooperative planned to build a cold storage with a capacity of 6000 tons, with an investment of 26 million yuan, including 20 million yuan in bank loans. This year, the bank drew an one-time loan of 15 million yuan, and the funds were suddenly tight. If you collect raspberries, you can't give money to farmers. "there are slips that haven't existed for years."

Wang Shuqin did not want to build a cold storage, but the raspberries were "delicate". They were picked in the morning, not frozen, and rotted in one day. Before, they rented six cold stores in Xinxiang. From picking to transportation to unloading, sending and pulling back, the cost per ton is increased by 600 yuan, and more than 1 million yuan is spent in a year. "if you want to solve the problem completely, you have to build your own cold storage." Wang Shuqin was ruthless and discussed with the members and went on the project.

The trouble of lack of money followed. This year, banks do not allow farmers to co-guarantee, can only take the land certificate, real estate certificate mortgage, otherwise can not loan. Where can cooperatives rent farmers' land for land certificates? Prior to this, Wang Shuqin set up a company to guarantee the cooperative. Now the company's guarantee has also been rejected.

"in the six years since the co-operative was established, it has not lent a penny from the bank." Zhu Changchun, chairman of Fengqiu County Xinfeng Agricultural planting Professional Cooperative, said. He planted honeysuckle, because of the lack of funds, in the picking season, he had to write notes to the farmers and settle the bill while selling the goods.

The situation in Shenqiu County is similar to that in Fengqiu County. The Lin Jiafu cooperative was founded by "land ownership" and now has 1986 members. In 2011, when the cooperative was first established, members proposed that the rent of 800 yuan per mu must be paid first, otherwise the land could not be formed. The cooperative had no asset mortgage, so its director, Lin Feng, had to raise more than 1 million yuan in advance rent. "if I hadn't raised the money, it would have been very difficult for the cooperative to open." He said.

Although the loan is difficult, the expenditure is not small at all. Take electricity consumption as an example, the electricity tariff of Fengqiu Cooperative Social Service varies in different periods: 0.50 yuan per kilowatt hour from 00 am to 7 am, 1 yuan per kilowatt hour from 8 am to 12:00, 1.50 yuan per kilowatt hour from 12:00 to 18:00 and 1.75 yuan per kilowatt hour from 18:00 to 0 am. In order to save money, the raspberries picked by the Qingdui Cooperative should be frozen at 0 o'clock as far as possible. The whole fruit rate of raspberries that had been left for a long time decreased, and the export had to earn 6500 yuan less per ton. "We are looking forward to implementing the agricultural electricity price of 0.4 yuan per kilowatt-hour." Wang Shuqin said.

Wang Junyi, deputy director of the Agricultural Office of the Fengqiu County CPC Committee, said that the county sets aside 1 million yuan of special funds every year to support cooperatives through interest discounts and awards instead of subsidies. Establish a credit rating and loan system for farmers' cooperatives, and open a green channel for agricultural loans according to their credit ratings. Cooperatives are encouraged to safely carry out pilot projects of internal credit cooperation in accordance with the principles of internal and external cooperation, stock absorption, deposit absorption, and dividend sharing.

"fundamentally speaking, to solve the problem of cooperative loans, we must rely on financial innovation and introduce targeted financial policies." People in the banking industry suggest that the government can take part of the risk compensation, pry up bank loans several times, and insurance companies intervene to jointly support cooperatives to form a financial support model of "government + banks + insurance companies." At the same time, cooperatives should also attach importance to compliance management and actively introduce standardized modern financial management to meet the qualification requirements of bank credit.

Turn mode--

Change the planting of corn to soybeans, change the transfer of land to trusteeship, and process from flour to steamed buns.

Structural adjustment is the biggest headache for grain-growing cooperatives at present.

In the past five years, Shenqiulin Family-rich Cooperative has mainly grown grain. Last year, the per unit yield of wheat was 565kg, 64.1kg higher than the average yield per mu in the county, with a total income increase of 572000 yuan. The per unit yield of corn is 538.5 kg, which is 38 kg higher than that of corn per mu in the county, with a total income increase of 319000 yuan. "the price in the grain market is low, the cost of harvesting, irrigating land and land rent is high, and the year when the weather is favorable is a bit of a small profit. In the event of a natural disaster, it is certain to lose money." Lin Feng said that the Lin Jiafu Cooperative has all changed to grow soybeans this year. At present, soybeans are growing well.

Yue Guihe is the chairman of Yongye Land transfer Professional Cooperative in Fengqiu County. Up to now, he has not decided what to grow instead of growing grain, so he has no choice but to return 400 mu of transferable land.

In 2013, six people, including Yue Guihe, set up cooperatives and transferred more than 1600 mu of land to grow wheat and corn. The transfer fee of 1200 yuan per mu of land, plus labor, planting, fertilizer and electricity charges, will cost 2300 yuan per mu of land per year. In two seasons a year, wheat and corn plus a piece of corn can only be sold for more than 2000 yuan per mu, with a compensation of more than 200 yuan.

"growing grain loses money, but he is familiar with it, and he has peace of mind. I'm afraid there will be no market for growing cash crops." Yue Guihe said, "it is hoped that the comprehensive agricultural subsidy policy will be put in place as soon as possible." At present, farmers can get subsidies regardless of whether they grow grain or not, and cooperatives do not get subsidies, which is not conducive to improving their enthusiasm for growing grain. "

Fengqiu pro-farming cooperatives also grow grain. Last year, the selling price of corn dropped from more than 1 yuan to 0.72 yuan per jin, resulting in a deficit. In order to reduce costs, their land management model has returned from circulation to trusteeship.

"the trusteeship has full trusteeship and semi-trusteeship, with a total of 12000 mu. Full trusteeship income of 960 yuan per mu, irrigated land, drying and other costs are high, not cost-effective. This year, all 4000 mu of fully entrusted land will be returned to farmers, leaving only semi-entrusted land. " Director Cao Xianzhao said that the cooperative took out 1000 mu of trial planting "Jili fruit" and interplanted potatoes, peanuts, sweet potatoes and watermelons in two seasons. When entering the fruiting period, the average income per mu can reach 30,000 yuan.

The government is also taking active actions to guide structural adjustment. The Fengqiu county government issued an opinion that since 2016, raspberries and honeysuckle will be developed in a row of more than 100 mu, with a subsidy of 1000 yuan per mu, priority will be given to irrigation, electricity and other infrastructure facilities, and priority subsidies will be given to cold storage and honeysuckle drying facilities. The government invested 10 million yuan to set up a raspberry and honeysuckle industry development support fund to provide support to the upper, middle and lower reaches of the industry. We will support cooperatives to carry out primary and intensive processing of agricultural products, and promote the integrated operation of production, marketing, trade, industry and agriculture.

Cao Xianzhao has set up a new stone mill flour mill and its products have been put on the market. "the profit of flour is thin, and then it is further processed to make steamed buns and steamed buns, which are supplied directly to supermarkets and restaurants."

Strong talents--

The peak employment needs 5000 people, but only 400 can be found. some farmers do not know how to operate agricultural machinery and are unwilling to learn.

Every spring, when honeysuckle is picked, Zhu Changchun is both happy and has a headache. The good news is that there is an immediate harvest, and the headache is the lack of manpower.

"the picking of honeysuckle depends on manual work, and it is picked in time with good medicinal properties and quality. If not in time, the efficacy will be greatly reduced." Zhu Changchun said that the Xinfeng cooperative has 2000 mu of honeysuckle, which needs 5000 people to pick when it is in full bloom. However, as many as 400 people are actually employed, and there is a serious shortage of people. To this end, they are developing mechanized picking equipment to make up for the labor gap.

"when raspberries are picked, they should be sorted and refrigerated immediately. But the workers are all old people and women. There is a shortage of manpower, so we can only freeze it first, and then find someone to sort it slowly in the freezer. " Wang Shuqin said that the cooperative employs more than 50 people all the year round, with an average wage of 60 million yuan per day at room temperature. If you work in a cold storage, your salary will double. For this alone, the annual expenditure will be increased by 2 million yuan.

Lin Feng said that cooperatives are not only short of manpower, but also a new type of farmers who can farm land. The Lin Jiafu Cooperative employs 26 farmers, all in their 50s. Although they have a lot of experience in farming, they have been engaged in household management for a long time and have poor ability to learn mechanized farming. The co-operative bought a batch of agricultural machinery, but they couldn't use it, and they didn't want to learn. Every time it comes to planting and harvesting, cooperatives have to hire people to operate them, adding extra costs.

"there are no professionals, and when they encounter technical bottlenecks, they always scratch their heads." Shan Junjie, director of the Chun Min Lotus planting Cooperative in Shenqiu County, said that especially when it comes to diseases and insect pests, experts have missed the best time for diagnosis and treatment. He hopes that the government will often organize expert lectures to establish smooth contact with experts and reduce the risk of planting.

According to the relevant person in charge of Shenqiu County, the county government actively strives for provincial financial project funds and support funds for cooperatives and supports them in the construction of base projects, technical training, pollution-free, and green product declaration.

The reporter found that because of the high costs of financing, land and manpower, cooperatives faced multiple difficulties and members withdrew from the society. For example, in the Qingdui cooperative, the original village group joined the cooperative as a whole, with a total of 78 peasant households. At present, 30 households have withdrawn from the cooperative. At its peak, Xinfeng Cooperative had more than 1300 members, because the price of honeysuckle has fallen for six consecutive years, and now there are only more than 300 households left. "to raise members' awareness of risk-sharing, the key is to find a way out." Zhu Changchun said that they joined hands with universities and spent 160000 yuan to develop two new varieties of honeysuckle. With the launch of the new product, the confidence of members will be gradually restored.