Farmers' Professional Cooperatives Accelerate China's Agricultural Modernization
In Beizhuang Village, Nanhe County, Xingtai City, Hebei Province, major grain grower Li Shouxin has contracted 3000 mu of land from the whole village, and 216 households of members in the village have joined the Shouxin Planting Cooperative. After the cooperative was established, it not only increased the average grain yield per mu, but also fattened the wallets of the members.
"Of these 3000 mu of land, 2000 mu are planted with field crops such as wheat and corn, and 1000 mu are used to develop ecological agriculture such as vegetables. Now the wheat yield per mu is 1100 jin, and the corn yield per mu has increased from less than 1000 jin to 1300 jin," Li Shouxin, chairman of the Shouxin Planting Cooperative, told reporters.
At present, Li Shouxin's example is not uncommon in China, which is steadily guiding rural land transfer. Zhao Juntai, a post-90s college student from Bazhang Village, Xian County, Cangzhou City, returned to his village after graduating from university and contracted 3100 mu of land, establishing the Xian County Juntai Family Farm to grow grain on a large scale. Because of his outstanding achievements and representativeness, he was rated a "National Major Grain Grower" in 2014.
Data from the Ministry of Agriculture show that by the end of June 2014, the area of contracted cultivated land transferred in China had reached 380 million mu, accounting for 28.8% of the total contracted cultivated land area, an increase of 20 percentage points over the end of 2008.
Industry experts point out that as farmers' professional cooperatives grow and expand, they will drive surrounding farmers to adjust the industrial structure and improve the efficiency of agricultural production. Cooperatives are a strategic measure for China to develop modern agriculture.
"When the problem of food and clothing was being solved, farmers worked intensively on the small plots of land they had contracted. With the development of family agriculture, small-scale operation has continuously shown its limitations, the level of labor productivity is low, and farmers' willingness to engage in agriculture has continued to decline," said Gao Yingdong, executive director of the Hebei Provincial Agricultural Industry Association. To bring agricultural production to a new level, it is necessary to appropriately expand the scale of operation and take the path of agricultural modernization.
Li Tingjun, a 70-year-old man from Beizhuang Village, Nanhe County, transferred out all 4 mu of his family's land at a price of 1000 yuan per mu. He said that his son and daughter-in-law had both gone out to work, and he could no longer farm by himself, so he and his wife did odd jobs at the Shouxin Cooperative, earning 60 yuan per person per day, which was more cost-effective than farming themselves. "The cooperative not only pays us land rent, but also lets us earn wages."
Liu Guoli, village party secretary of Bazhang Village, Xian County, told reporters that the village strongly supports this form of cooperative. Of the village's 4900 mu of land, Zhao Juntai has contracted more than half. "The cooperative not only organizes scattered land and farmers, but also connects agricultural product production with the market. Through cooperative enterprises, the cost of direct transactions with scattered farmers is reduced, and farmers also receive preferential treatment such as technical guidance, raising the level of agricultural industrialization. It can be said to achieve multiple benefits at once."
However, although China's rural land transfer and farmers' professional cooperatives have developed rapidly in recent years, overall they are still at the primary stage. Problems such as weak overall strength, non-standard management and difficulties in financing and loans are relatively common. Phenomena that infringe on farmers' lawful land rights and interests during development, such as forced transfer and one-sided pursuit of the scale and speed of transfer, still exist.
Li Shouxin said that his cooperative currently faces an annual funding shortfall of about 10 million yuan. Apart from relying on his own savings and borrowing from relatives and friends, it is very difficult to obtain bank loans because there is no effective guarantee. He hopes the state will give some preference to major grain growers in funding policies. Affected by individual cooperatives suspected of illegal fundraising, many farmers have doubts about the development direction of cooperatives, and he hopes relevant departments will strengthen supervision.
Dang Guoying, director of the Macro Office of the Rural Development Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that advancing rural land transfer in an orderly manner is of great significance to developing modern agriculture, but in the transfer process, farmers' wishes and land rights and interests must be respected, and the nature of the land must not be changed. Only in this way can land transfer develop healthily.
"In response to some problems in the development of farmers' professional cooperatives, the national or provincial level should establish and improve a supervision and management system, clarify the registration authority, competent business department, business supervision department and their supervisory responsibilities. In addition, governments at all levels should actively coordinate with financial institutions, establish a cooperative credit rating system, and increase financial support for cooperatives," Dang Guoying said.