How to Cultivate a High-Quality Team of Professional Agricultural Managers
Professional agricultural managers belong to the category of business-oriented new professional farmers. They refer to agricultural skilled personnel who operate and control the resources and capital needed for agricultural production and operation, and who, while seeking maximum economic benefits for farmers' cooperatives, agricultural enterprises or owners, earn commissions or dividends from it. They are not only familiar with agriculture, but more importantly, they understand business and are good at management, and possess relatively high professional quality. They are the “white-collar workers” among the new professional farmer team, and play an increasingly important role in agricultural operation and management.
The development of urban modern agriculture requires a large number of professional agricultural managers with relatively high quality.
To improve agricultural labor productivity and the competitiveness of agricultural products, solve the problem of agricultural product quality and safety, and promote the leapfrog development of urban modern agriculture, it is necessary to cultivate a large team of professional farmers who love rural areas and focus on agriculture while reducing the number of farmers. In recent years, in the process of advancing the pilot zone for comprehensive coordinated urban-rural reform and the construction of the country's first batch of modern agriculture demonstration zones, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, through a series of institutional innovations, has been striving to transform being a farmer from an identity into an occupation, and has taken professional agricultural managers as the focus of building the professional farmer team. It guides and supports professional agricultural managers from the levels of environment, institutions and policies, improves their production skills and business capabilities, and has attracted a group of agricultural successors with high overall quality, strong production and operation capabilities and an obvious main-body role to engage in agricultural production and operation. This has effectively solved the practical problems of “who will farm the land”, “who will grow grain” and “who will provide services”, especially the lack of management talent in new operating entities such as land share cooperatives, and has laid a solid foundation for promoting the development of specialized, standardized, large-scale and intensive urban modern agriculture.
Main practices of Chengdu City in cultivating professional agricultural managers
In recent years, Chengdu City has mainly started with establishing training and certification management, exchange and employment mechanisms, and formulating and implementing support policies to carry out the cultivation of professional agricultural managers.
First, strengthen funding guarantees and build a training mechanism for professional agricultural managers. In order to effectively ensure the smooth implementation of the training of professional agricultural managers, the city includes training funds in the fiscal budget every year, reaching 7 million yuan in 2014. The Municipal Agriculture Commission, the Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau and the Municipal Science and Technology Bureau jointly formulate a training plan for professional agricultural managers, and train more than 2,500 new professional agricultural managers each year. A combination of voluntary registration and recommendation by townships and county agricultural development bureaus is adopted, and people who meet the training conditions and are willing to engage in modern agriculture are included in the training plan. Relying on agriculture-related colleges and universities, agricultural broadcasting schools and some secondary vocational technical schools, and focusing on the needs of moderate-scale operation of land share cooperatives and leading agricultural enterprises, the training is made more targeted, effective and practical. At the same time, each year some outstanding professional agricultural managers are selected to participate in upgrading training at key domestic agricultural universities, further improving the quality of professional managers.
Second, strictly manage certification and ensure the quality of professional agricultural manager training. The “Regulations of Chengdu City on the Evaluation and Management of Professional Agricultural Managers” were issued, clarifying the evaluation conditions and evaluation procedures for professional agricultural managers. An evaluation committee for professional agricultural managers was established, responsible for certifying professional agricultural managers and issuing the “Professional Agricultural Manager Certificate of Chengdu City” to those who meet the evaluation conditions. Professional agricultural managers are certified once a year, and the qualification certificate is valid for two years, linked to relevant support policies such as fiscal support, social security and financial loans.
Third, issue support policies to increase the attractiveness of professional agricultural managers. For professional agricultural managers who newly establish or lead farmers' cooperatives, protected agricultural production bases, large-scale grain bases and the purchase of agricultural machinery, under equal conditions the relevant subsidies are increased by 10%; professional agricultural managers are supported in participating in urban employee pension insurance, and of the 20% individual contribution base, 12% is subsidized by finance, with individuals paying only 8%. From January to August 2014, the city's finance subsidized a total of 8.91 million yuan. At the same time, exploration was made to set up risk compensation funds to support professional agricultural managers in obtaining credit loans with their qualification certificates, with a maximum loan amount of 300,000 yuan, resolving the “financing difficulty” problem.
Fourth, establish an information platform to promote the flow of professional agricultural manager talent. Relying on grassroots comprehensive agricultural service stations, county-level agricultural technology promotion centers and agricultural education and training institutions, a talent resource information platform for professional agricultural managers was established to carry out dynamic information management of the training, certification, specialties and employment of professional agricultural managers, and to disclose it in a timely manner to operating entities such as land share cooperatives, specialized farmers' cooperative organizations and leading agricultural enterprises. At the same time, by means such as priority recommendation and open competitive recruitment, professional agricultural managers are encouraged to be employed and move freely throughout the city without regional restrictions, optimizing the allocation and use of professional agricultural manager talent resources through market mechanisms.
Fifth, improve the assessment mechanism and enhance the service quality of professional agricultural managers. The Municipal Agriculture Commission, the Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau and the Municipal Science and Technology Bureau establish an assessment mechanism. Each year, service recipients and the local agricultural development bureau assess the professional quality and performance completion of professional agricultural managers. Those who pass the assessment are included in the management of the professional agricultural manager talent resource information platform and given a credit rating. Those who fail the assessment cannot enjoy the relevant support policies. Those who fail the assessment mainly due to technical problems may be re-included in the training and selection work plan, and those with outstanding work performance are commended. At the same time, dynamic management of professional agricultural managers is implemented, and an exit mechanism for professional agricultural managers is established. Professional agricultural managers who fail the assessment or have not taken a post for two consecutive years have their professional agricultural manager qualification revoked.
Sixth, establish an association and create a good environment for the development of professional agricultural managers. After the team of professional agricultural managers developed to a certain number, the municipal party committee and municipal government supported the establishment of a professional agricultural manager association at an appropriate time. On the basis of giving full play to the association's “backbone role” in promoting large-scale operation, its “link role” in serving the agricultural industry and its “bridge role” in connecting with target markets, a series of measures to guide and help agriculture-related associations accelerate development were successively issued in many aspects, including organizational planning, institutional establishment, standardized management, business expansion, project implementation and fund arrangement. While strengthening agricultural industry self-discipline, resource integration and collective development, this effectively promoted professional agricultural managers to strengthen their strength and build their brands.