Guide the healthy development of farmers' cooperatives and alliances

It has been 9 years since the promulgation of the Law of the people's Republic of China on Farmers' specialized Cooperatives. During this period, the number of farmers' cooperatives in China is growing day by day, and the establishment and development of farmers' cooperatives gradually have a membership basis, and the alliance has become the inevitable trend of the development of farmers' professional cooperatives. It is understood that at present, more than 10,000 farmers' cooperatives have been spontaneously set up at the grass-roots level, which has played an important role in building a new agricultural management system, improving the market competitiveness of agricultural products, and promoting the development of modern agriculture. However, the related issues of the United cooperative are not involved in the law of farmers' professional cooperatives, and the author suggests that the relevant issues of the United cooperative should be put on the agenda of amending the law. In the process of law revision, we should focus on the following aspects.

I. the admission of members should adhere to the principles of self-reliance and autonomy of the United Society.

With regard to the membership of farmers' cooperatives, different opinions have emerged in the process of amending the law. The focus of the debate is mainly focused on whether the members of the United society must be all farmers' professional cooperatives, or there can be other subjects to join, especially whether the enterprise can have the membership of the United society. The views of experts are mainly divided into two groups: the vast majority of experts hold the view that it is not suitable for enterprises to join the United Society as independent subjects. The main reason is that after enterprises join the union, it is not conducive to the democratic management of the union, and it is easy to form internal control, which can easily lead to the risk of "deterioration" of the union; another point of view is that business entities such as enterprises should be allowed to join the union, and their number or proportion should be limited. The reason is that in the existing United society, it has become a fait accompli for enterprises to join as members, and the registration management measures issued in some places also allow non-cooperative subjects such as enterprises to join. And the entry of enterprises can make up for the lack of resource elements of the United society, and at the same time can form a certain driving role.

The author believes that in order to discuss the membership of farmers' cooperatives at the legal level, two basic principles should be made clear: one is to maintain the attribute of serving farmers; the second is to ensure that farmers' cooperatives can realize their own democratic control. These two principles are mutually exclusive and mutually reinforcing. To put it simply, it is necessary to realize the self-reliance and autonomy of the farmers' cooperatives. This is the classic principle of cooperatives adhered to by the International Cooperative Union after more than 170 years of ups and downs, and it is also one of the core principles that distinguish cooperatives from other economic organizations. Therefore, when amending the law, the principle of self-reliance and autonomy of the United society must be made clear on the issue of access to members.

Second, "democratic control" should be embodied in the decision-making mechanism.

Since the establishment of the International Cooperative Union (1895), the history of the world cooperative movement for more than 120 years tells us that "democratic principle", as the core guiding principle of the international cooperative union, runs through the cooperative movement all the time. It has experienced the evolution process from "one person, one vote" (1895), "equal vote" (1921) to "democratic control" (1937, 1966, 1995). The above three expressions reflect the characteristics of democratic management under the characteristics of different times. "one person, one vote" was put forward in accordance with the Rochdale principle of 1895. At that time, consumer cooperatives were the main type, and all those who participated in consumer cooperatives were the working class at the bottom of society, and capital was a scarce element. Members are more equal, and "one person, one vote" can best reflect this equal relationship. With the diversified development of the types of cooperatives and the introduction of factors such as the proportion of shares among members and different contributions to cooperatives, the meaning of democracy has changed. "one person, one vote" is too rigid, so the principle has developed into "equal voting" to adapt to the evolution of member relations within cooperatives. With the continuous enrichment of the internal factor resources of cooperatives, capital, technology, land and other factors of production are also an important part of the development of cooperatives, when it becomes the measure of the residual claim of cooperatives, the word "equal vote" can not cover all its connotations, and finally "democratic control" continues as the most appropriate term.

The provisions on democratic principles in China's Cooperative Law emphasize "one person, one vote". From the legal point of view, these provisions on "one person, one vote" strictly reflect the democratic principles of cooperatives. However, nine years of cooperative development practice shows that there is a gap between principle and reality. Under the influence of China's special national conditions, rural elites and vulnerable small farmers coexist within cooperatives (called "the heterogeneity of cooperatives" in academic circles), and there is a typical "center-periphery" structure within cooperatives. The "one person, one vote" system stipulated in the law can not be effectively implemented. Therefore, in the process of amending the law of the farmers' cooperative union, it is suggested that "democratic control" as the core principle of the union should be written into the newly revised law. In this way, it is not only consistent with the principles of the International Cooperative Union, but also more consistent with the development practice of cooperatives in China, and can avoid disputes and doubts from all walks of life.

III. Conditionally allow the United Society to carry out mutual financial assistance business within the club.

In recent years, the central government attaches great importance to the financing of farmers' cooperatives. In 2008, the third Plenary session of the 17th CPC Central Committee decided to "allow qualified farmers' professional cooperatives to carry out credit cooperation". This is the first time that China has allowed qualified cooperatives to carry out credit cooperation business in the form of a central document. Subsequently, the Central No. 1 document over the years has put forward clear requirements for cooperatives to carry out credit cooperation. The outline of the Thirteenth five-year Plan for National Economic and Social Development issued on March 17, 2016 also proposed to "steadily carry out the pilot project of financial assistance within farmers' cooperatives."

Many farmers' cooperatives in China have spontaneously carried out the business of mutual financial assistance. Due to the large scale of funds formed during the mutual fund business within the United Society, it is clear in the law that two hurdles must be strictly taken care of: one is risk prevention and control. The United Society must strictly follow the principles of "internal and external, stock absorption, deposit absorption, and dividend sharing", and encourage the Union to design a risk prevention and control mechanism according to its own characteristics. Second, supervision and supervision, we must implement the main body of guidance and supervision of the United Society to carry out this business, and clarify the corresponding guidance and supervision responsibilities, and suggest that the agricultural sector as the main body of guidance, the local financial sector as the main body of supervision.

IV. Encourage the United Society to give full play to its social function

According to the survey, at present, there are many types of farmers' cooperatives in China, such as production type, sales type, industrial chain type and comprehensive type. Among them, the comprehensive union is a kind of regional association which is realized through the integration of resources, taking the social service of production and life as the link, strengthening the ties of community members and improving the vitality of regional economy. At present, some rural communities have set up similar comprehensive United societies, and the government entrusts social functions such as pension, medical care and culture to the United Society in the form of purchasing services. with the aim of developing rural communities and promoting the coordinated development of economy, society and culture in rural communities, it has played a positive role in invigorating rural economy, promoting rural harmony and enriching rural culture.

The direction of amending the law will have an important impact on the future of China's agriculture and rural areas. The Law on Farmers' specialized Cooperatives implemented in 2007 is a market subject law, which highlights the economic function of farmers' specialized cooperatives. Under the guidance of the law, great changes have taken place in China's rural economy. The majority of farmers have also increased their income through the promotion of cooperatives. However, China's rural areas not only need economic development, but also need mutual assistance among farmers, but also need the construction of the value norms of rural communities, and need some backbone forces to undertake part of the governance function of public affairs outside the formal state institutions.

Therefore, when the cooperative law is amended, the United society should be encouraged to give full play to its social function and realize its social value. United societies with economic functions are encouraged to assume more social responsibilities; those with social functions are encouraged to give full play to their important role in promoting social development in rural areas on the basis of realizing their own sustainable development.

Fifth, strengthen the policy guidance of attaching equal importance to incentive and supervision.

The promulgation of the Cooperative Law provides a very favorable policy environment for farmers' professional cooperatives in China. However, the stimulus policies with the contents of government subsidies, project support, tax relief and so on can be effective in a short time, such as a large number of cooperatives can be established in a short time, but because the law does not clearly specify the supervision and withdrawal mechanism of cooperatives, a large number of non-standard cooperatives are also produced.

From the point of view of the guiding policies of farmers' cooperatives, most local government departments follow the support policies of farmers' professional cooperatives and give policy, project and financial support to the business of farmers' cooperatives. If we consider the extent to which the policy benefits farmers, the difference between a United cooperative and a cooperative is that the members of the United cooperative are market organizations such as cooperatives, not individual farmers. Support for United cooperatives can only be transferred to farmers who join cooperatives through cooperatives. From the point of view of the characteristics of the market legal person, the United society is closer to the enterprise, and the capital elements often have more say within the United society. In this case, when it is proposed to amend the cooperative law, it is necessary to strengthen the policy guidance of paying equal attention to both incentive and supervision. While perfecting the government policy support system, we should regard the farmers' cooperative association as an independent market subject, establish a third-party supervision mechanism for the union, improve the audit spot check system, improve the punishment system, and establish a market exit mechanism for the association, reduce or even put an end to the negative effects of the above policies, and achieve incentives to promote development and supervision to promote standardization.