Order agriculture: it can prevent market price fluctuation but not farmers' breach of contract.

Core reading

From garlic and ginger in previous years to Maca and pineapple this year, farmers have been hurt by the collapse in agricultural prices. As an important means of fixing production by sales, order agriculture plays a certain role in stabilizing the price of agricultural products, ensuring farmers' reasonable income and resisting market price risk. However, the reporter found that in the actual operation, contract agriculture has become difficult to implement because of some farmers' poor awareness of contract and malicious breach of contract, which in turn hurts merchants and farmers.

The high prices of agricultural products-the expansion of planting scale-the oversupply-the sharp drop in prices and the roller coaster of prices have undoubtedly made more and more farmers involved in the cultivation of commercial crops nervous. This year, Yunnan Maca has gone through the process of falling from 120 yuan to 1 yuan per jin. Local governments have tried to solve the problem of price fluctuations by order farming, but the situation has exceeded the expectations of the government and merchants.

The price went up and the contract became a piece of paper

"if others give an extra yuan or two, most farmers will no longer keep their promises and sell them to other vendors." A worker who promotes Chinese bee farming in remote mountainous areas of Yunnan told reporters that although farmers in remote mountainous areas are simple, they often lack the spirit of contract. "if you can't hold on to the farmers in terms of technology or follow-up policy subsidies, it will be very difficult for them to keep their promises through an agreement!" The staff member said.

The reporter learned that in Yunnan Province, many governments have actively promoted order agriculture and guided farmers to sign sales agreements with companies before planting Maca, so as to avoid the risk of market price fluctuations. But just a few years ago, farmers who signed the agreement did not sell Maca to merchants, but said lightly that their breach of contract was "human nature".

In the stage of rising prices, farmers are not willing to sign contracts with enterprises. In a certain Maca producing area in Yunnan, some enterprises refused to sign a purchase agreement with the villagers before they signed the purchase agreement. If an agreement is reached with Maca enterprises, villagers can not only get seedlings free of charge, but also receive corresponding compensation, according to the agreed purchase price of nearly 10,000 yuan per mu of land. However, there are still villagers who think that the Maca market "may be better" at harvest and are unwilling to sell it cheaply. Unexpectedly, at the harvest stage this year, prices plummeted, and farmers wanted to cry without tears.

In the eighth street of Anning City, Yunnan Province, edible roses also encountered a roller coaster last year. At the lowest point, the price of roses fell to two or three yuan, and even the labor costs collected were not enough. Some enterprises have tried to place orders with farmers in advance, but an agreement has not yielded any benefits. "our company buys seven or eight tons of roses every day during the peak season, but some small vendors will buy them at a slightly higher price because they buy less, but other farmers start wrangling with us when they hear about it." Anning Runsen Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd. staff Dai Xiaobang talked about the acquisition of roses, quite helpless.

In fact, farmers who fail to comply with the contract also have their own plans. "everyone sells, and if the price is higher, the income will be a little more. What's more, the people who collect flowers are acquaintances, so it's hard to refuse. " Villager Li Shi (pseudonym) told the reporter. Li Shi did not seem to care about the terms of breach of contract stated on the contract. "they are big enterprises, and they don't care about this with me, either." With regard to this idea, Dai Xiaobang was very helpless: "there will be such people in every village, and they think that breach of contract is not a big deal. Even if they are kicked out of the co-operative, they will still plead with the village cadres. They all belong to the same village, and in the end they all come to nothing."

A rose processor told the reporter that in order to solve the problem of agricultural product prices plummeting to hurt farmers, order agriculture is effective, and the financial advantages of large enterprises help to combat the risk of market price fluctuations. "however, as far as the current performance of farmers' contracts is concerned, which enterprise will suffer losses if it signs a purchase and sales contract."

The original win-win contract has become a yoke that only restricts the enterprise.

Merchants protect their rights, but they can't protect their rights if they win the lawsuit.

If the farmers fail to perform the contract, can the enterprise safeguard its rights? It won't be easy.

Although the overall loss is high, but the loss falls to the relatively scattered farmers' homes, the output and output value of each family is not high, the cost of enterprise collection is high, and to go to court, the case is easy to win, but it is extremely difficult to implement. "if it is really to be enforced, once the farmers boycott in groups and cause mass incidents, the government can often only adopt an attitude of peace." Liu Zhiwei, director of the eighth Street Industrial Office, said.

And when the price falls sharply, the enterprise still has to buy according to the order price. A very small number of farmers even did not sell to enterprises when the price was high a few years ago, but the price plummeted but required the enterprise to carry out the contract. Over the past few years, many enterprises are also unwilling to purchase agricultural products by order, and order agriculture is difficult to sustain in many places.

"the planting scale of farmers is often determined on the basis of the purchase price of the previous year, but the market is often lagging behind, and farmers' ability to resist risks is relatively poor." Liu Zhiwei said: at present, the problem of untimely disclosure of supply and demand information in the agricultural market is more prominent, which is an important reason for the substantial fluctuations in agricultural prices.

In the face of sharp fluctuations in the prices of agricultural products, the government is faced with a dilemma: on the one hand, the government has no right and does not dare to require farmers to grow more or less certain crops; on the other hand, if the government does nothing, once the agricultural products are unmarketable, we have to pay attention to the decline in farmers' income, especially once it causes serious damage to a local industry, it will often affect social stability in a small area.

Liu Zhixiong, an associate professor at the Business School of China University of political Science and Law, told reporters that it is still common for order agriculture to encounter farmers' breach of contract in reality. "once farmers default, enterprises are often in a weak position." Liu Zhixiong believes that under the current situation, farmers' awareness of contract is relatively poor, while the cost of forcing farmers to perform the contract is very high, and there is also a high social risk, so there are no effective measures to solve this problem.

To make up for the deficiency of integrity, there is a long way to go.

In fact, it is to see the potential risks of order agriculture, many grass-roots governments began to guide enterprises to adopt the way of price protection to stabilize the market.

The reporter learned that in July, the price of roses in Anning eighth Street fell again to 3 yuan, and even at such a low price, many farmers still could not sell it.

As a result of signing a protective price with Runsen, many farmers are not worried about selling. Dai Xiaobang told reporters: "We have signed contracts with farmers and coordinated the protection price. This year we have signed more than 200 mu." In the case of low market price, we buy according to 5 yuan per kilogram. If the market price is higher than the protective price, we will follow the market. "

Why 5 yuan? Dai Xiaobang calculated an account for the reporter. In the market downturn, excluding the cost and manpower of farmers, the protection price of 5 yuan can ensure that farmers can have a net income of 2,600 to 700 yuan per mu of roses a year, which is better than planting rice. If it is less than 5 yuan, the florist will dig up the flowers directly.

However, the range of protection price signed by Runsen and farmers is not large, and the two sides have cooperated for many years, and there is a certain relationship of trust. How to develop contract agriculture on a large scale? The opinions of all parties are relatively unified: the key is to do a good job in rural credit information.

"many farmers are older and do not need to go to the bank for loans, nor do they go out to work, so it is very difficult to form effective restrictions on loans and ticket purchase restrictions after credit information problems." Liu Zhiwei believes that at least in the short term, it is not easy for the rural credit information system to operate effectively quickly. Liu Zhixiong believes that the concept of credit information can not be achieved overnight, sustained and extensive publicity is particularly important. "it is suggested that enterprises should know more about farmers before signing the contract, and gradually establish a relatively stable supply relationship with some farmers before considering signing orders, so as to form a community of interests of companies and farmers." Liu Zhixiong said. (before Duong Van Minh Xu)