Farmers' interests are the touchstone for the healthy development of cooperatives

(agricultural Wealth Network) since the promulgation and implementation of the Farmers' specialized Cooperatives Law on July 1, 2007, farmers' specialized cooperatives have sprung up in various places like bamboo shoots after a spring rain. According to statistics, there are more than 178000 registered farmers' specialized cooperatives nationwide, with a total of 25 million members. As a "newborn child" who has only obtained legal status for less than three years, what are the characteristics of the development of farmers' professional cooperatives? What are the difficulties encountered in practice? What will be the future trend? These are the focus of attention from all walks of life.

Zhang Xiaoshan, director of the Institute of Rural Development of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that the diversified and mixed development model and management form of agricultural modernization will exist in China's rural areas for a long time. As an important carrier, farmers' professional cooperatives will also show the characteristics of heterogeneity and diversity for a long time. Cooperatives run by large households have become the main form of cooperatives in some areas; the original form of "company + peasant household" in agricultural industrialization management is either internalized in cooperatives or companies increasingly trade with farmers through cooperatives as intermediaries; farmers' professional cooperatives and rural community organizations will collide, crisscross and integrate more and more. In the development process of cooperatives in the future, whether professional farmers engaged in agricultural production or marketing can become the main body of interests of professional cooperatives is a touchstone for the healthy and sound development of farmers' professional cooperatives in the future.

Cooperatives run by large households have become the main form in some areas.

Zhang Xiaoshan said that among the cooperatives that are now registered, cooperatives run by large households often become the main form. He gave an example to explain this phenomenon. Liu Ruozheng, founder and chairman of Zhengrong Farm planting Cooperative, Yongxing Town, Jingshan County, Hubei Province, is a junior college graduate majoring in planting at Henan Agricultural University. He came to Hubei to contract cultivated land in 2003, and then set up a cooperative, which was registered in the department of industry and commerce on April 3, 2008. At present, there are 212 members, distributed in 4 townships and 18 villages, they have contracted 13487 mu of agricultural land, and 27 directors have been elected according to the membership composition of regional cooperatives. Members pay neither share funds nor membership dues; the main business of the co-operatives is the group purchase of the means of production, which is first paid to the co-operatives according to the market price, and finally rebated according to the difference in the transaction volume. From the perspective of decision-making mechanism, surplus distribution, financial management and other aspects, this is a relatively standardized cooperative. One of the characteristics of this co-operative is the dominance of large households. At the beginning, there were five members. Liu Ruozheng was the largest family, contracted 1290 mu of arable land, one member was an agricultural technician, and the other three members contracted a total of 900mu of arable land.

According to statistics, among the 136 registered professional cooperatives in Wuhu City, Anhui Province, 125 are established by capable people (large households) in rural areas, 4 are led by agriculture-related departments, 5 are led by leading enterprises, and 2 are led by village-level organizations. From the point of view of the sponsors of the cooperative organization, it is led by the family, led by major planting, breeding or marketing professionals, and initiated by several people.

Zhang Xiaoshan believes that without the participation of major professionals and the co-operatives of entrepreneurs, it would be impossible to have successful cooperatives. At present, well-developed professional cooperatives are often dominated by large households, setting a threshold to exclude small farmers. Allowing these large households to spread their skills, knowledge, management and market channels to other people is the key to the healthy development of cooperatives and abiding by their basic principles and values.

In economic life, cooperatives have become the transaction intermediary between companies and farmers.

Why is the company active in joining or leading cooperatives? He believes that when a policy is introduced, it is often the strong groups related to the policy that first seize the commanding heights and make full use of the preferential treatment of the policy. On the issue of co-operatives, there is no exception, for example, the processing factory becomes a wheat co-operative and the meat factory becomes a meat union co-operative. Leading enterprises to join or lead cooperatives are driven by their own interests, which has its economic rationality, but the interests of farmers should be fully considered.

Article 50 of the Law on Farmers' specialized Cooperatives states: "the central and local governments shall allocate funds respectively. Support farmers' specialized cooperatives to carry out services such as information, training, quality standards and certification of agricultural products, agricultural production infrastructure construction, marketing and technical popularization." Article 52 states: "Farmers' specialized cooperatives shall enjoy the corresponding tax preferences for agricultural production, processing, circulation, services and other agriculture-related economic activities as prescribed by the state." These preferential policies are often driven by the interests of leading enterprises to join or lead cooperatives. The joining or leading of large households can link farmers with the market and make farmers in small-scale peasant economy have the ability to resist market risks.

Hubei Xingnong Grain Industry Development Co., Ltd., controlled by 95% of the central grain reserves directly under Jingmen, is a comprehensive grain industrialization enterprise integrating grain warehousing, processing, trade, testing and logistics. In 2008, the company took the lead in setting up 14 high-quality rice industry associations in 14 major grain-producing townships in Jingmen City, Hubei Province. each association took the village as a unit and selected some villages with good mass foundation and high degree of cultivation to establish high-quality rice production cooperatives. a total of more than 30 farmers' professional cooperatives have been established to ensure the source of high-quality rice by establishing an industrial network of "companies + associations + cooperatives + farmers". Due to the intervention of large households, order-based agriculture ensures the smooth flow of farmers' sales channels.

This is a typical example of a company being internalized into a cooperative. He believes that an important principle of cooperatives is that they are rooted in the local community with the aim of promoting the development of the local community. Some enterprises led by local farmers set up cooperatives or professional and technical associations, which not only benefited themselves, but also led other farmers to increase their income and enhance their ability to resist market risks. finally, it promotes the economic and social development of the local community and becomes a trading intermediary connecting companies and farmers. as long as the interests of farmers can be guaranteed in the market transaction, this economic phenomenon has its rationality of existence and development.

Shanxi Jincheng Tongkang Food Co., Ltd. is such an example, the company in the form of "company + cooperative + base + farmers" to establish a green agricultural planting base of more than 18000 mu, planting pollution-free agricultural products, and then processing and marketing. The company provides seeds and technical guidance for cooperatives and buys qualified agricultural products handed in by cooperatives at guaranteed prices. Cooperatives purchase qualified agricultural products provided by members at guaranteed prices and also sign purchase contracts with farmers in other surrounding administrative villages as agents of the company.

Without the support of cooperative finance, it is very difficult for China's farmers' professional cooperatives to grow.

Zhang Xiaoshan pointed out that the more functions of cooperatives and the more preferential policies they enjoy, the more active all stakeholders will be to establish, utilize and develop the platform of cooperatives. But at the same time, various non-standard problems have been exposed in the development of cooperatives. The problems exposed in the rural reform and development are also reflected in the development of cooperatives. The practice of the establishment and development of farmers' professional cooperatives will inevitably enrich the policies on cooperatives and promote the improvement of relevant laws.

The development of rural areas is inseparable from the support of finance. One of the difficulties in China's rural financial reform is that it is difficult for formal peasant cooperative financial organizations owned by farmers to provide financial services for farmers to develop. Without the support of cooperative finance, it is also very difficult for China's farmers' professional cooperatives to grow.

It is understood that credit cooperation in rural areas is not entirely satisfactory. So far, only 11 rural mutual aid cooperatives have been successfully registered with the CBRC, and the CBRC plans to approve 150 within five years, while the number of farmers' professional cooperative organizations has grown to more than 178000. There is a huge gap between the two.

He believes that properly developing credit cooperation, allowing cooperatives to establish a certain "hematopoietic" mechanism, developing and strengthening farmers' specialized cooperatives, and giving full play to the market regulation function of cooperatives are practical problems that need to be solved urgently. It is suggested that decision-making departments should work together with relevant business departments to formulate relevant policies to make up for the omissions of existing policies and resolve the market risks of credit cooperation.