Support for specialized cooperatives must be sustained; it cannot go hot and then cold

Recently, while interviewing in a county in Shanxi, the author found that a cooperative in the county that was once a model cooperative has now stalled. When asked the reason, the cooperative's chairman said: “Going to Beijing to report, receiving people from all walks of life who came to learn from its experience, it was lively for a while, and later a field meeting was even held, but once the meeting was over, it was over.” As the main leaders of the local government and the credit union were transferred away, the bank no longer renewed loans to this cooperative, and members also stopped repaying loans because of difficulties in cash flow. Not only did the cooperative fail to sustain its development momentum and bring more benefits to ordinary people, it instead left behind many aftereffects.

As an important new type of business entity, cooperatives are a major new force in developing modern agriculture. In recent years, government departments at all levels have also issued many support policies conducive to the healthy development of cooperatives, giving cooperatives a “leg up and a send-off.” However, in some places there are also situations where policies are inconsistent or even cannot be fulfilled. This is not only detrimental to the healthy development of cooperatives, but will also harm farmers.

⟦NL> Development requires reform and innovation, and good grassroots experience needs to be commended, encouraged, and promoted, but for these grassroots cooperatives, beyond commendation, there is a greater need to institutionalize support for grassroots innovative achievements. There must be no “hot first, cold later,” and it is necessary to put an end to the practice of policies dying when people leave, so as to create a more sustainable development environment and policy momentum for new types of business entities.