How can the development of farmers' specialized cooperative economic organizations be accelerated?

In recent years, some farmers' specialized cooperative organizations have emerged in the rural areas of Qingzhen City, Guizhou Province, playing a positive role in boosting agricultural efficiency, increasing farmers' incomes, advancing rural development, and accelerating the pace of building a moderately prosperous society in rural areas in step with the rest of society. By the end of 2013, Qingzhen City's farmers' specialized cooperative organizations had reached 201, including 123 in crop farming, 11 in livestock and aquaculture, 47 in services, and 12 in other industries, basically achieving full coverage of key industries; the number of farmers joining the cooperatives was 2,188, driving more than 40,000 households.

Qingzhen City's farmers' specialized cooperative organizations show the following characteristics: First, the industrial distribution is dominated by crop farming and livestock and aquaculture. The city's farming and breeding cooperative organizations reached 134, accounting for 66.67% of the city's total, among which 55 cooperative organizations engaged in production services and integrated production, processing and sales services, mostly concentrated in technical and information services related to agricultural production and operation, while there were no cooperative organizations engaged in transport and marketing, warehousing, processing and other service industries. Second, the forms of establishment are diverse. In terms of organizational form, there are forms such as "company + base + farmers," "cooperative organization + base + farmers," "company + farmers," and "cooperative organization + farmers"; in terms of the leading entities, village cadre-led and capable large household-led types predominate, and most of the leaders of farmers' specialized cooperative organizations are capable large households in the village, village and group cadres, and returning migrant workers. Third, the strength of cooperative organizations is generally weak. Only 6 have registered capital of more than 10 million yuan, only 5 have 5-10 million yuan, and 57 have 1-5 million yuan. Some cooperative organizations have no fixed assets, some have no breeding or farming bases of their own, and some have no office premises of their own.

After several years of development, Qingzhen City's farmers' specialized cooperative organizations have shown a sound development momentum and accelerated the pace of building a moderately prosperous society in rural areas in step with the rest of society. First, they have promoted the development of agricultural industrialization. They have advanced the promotion and application of advanced agricultural technologies and formed a number of characteristic industries such as grapes in Hongfeng Lake Town and vegetables in Zhanjie Town. Through the implementation of the "six unifications" system, including unified branding and packaging and unified product sales, the level of agricultural industrialization has been raised. Second, they have increased farmers' incomes. According to survey statistics, the incomes of all farmer households that have joined farmers' specialized cooperative organizations are higher than those of non-member households, with an average income increase of about 20%, and members of individual cooperative organizations have seen income increases as high as 30-40%, while farmers driven by their radiating effect have seen income increases of about 10%. Third, they have improved farmers' production skills. Some farmers' specialized cooperative organizations carry out production technology training every year and organize members to go out for study and inspection, effectively improving farmers' production skills. Fourth, they have effectively connected with the market. As a bridge and link connecting farmers with enterprises and farmers with the market, farmers' specialized cooperative organizations have established sales channels such as "farmer-supermarket direct purchase" and "farmer-school direct supply," effectively resolving the contradiction between farmers' "small production" and the city's "large market," and enabling agricultural products to enter the market more quickly.

Although the development of Qingzhen City's farmers' specialized cooperative organizations has achieved certain results, due to their late start, there are still some problems in the development process. From the perspective of internal operation, there are mainly four problems: First, the capacity for service and driving development is relatively weak. In terms of service content, cooperative organizations mostly remain at low-level services such as the supply of means of production; most cooperation occurs within townships and villages, with very little cross-regional operation, a small radiating scope, and weak driving capacity. Second, operations are not sufficiently standardized. Although most existing cooperative organizations have formulated charters and various systems, most exist in name only, and many cooperative organizations have not established a reasonable benefit distribution mechanism. Third, members are relatively old and of low quality. Because young and middle-aged rural laborers go out to work all year round, cooperative organizations are mostly composed of middle-aged and elderly people, whose educational level is generally low. Fourth, marketing is relatively lagging. Most cooperative organizations use wholesale and retail as their main marketing channels, and in "farmer-supermarket direct purchase" there are commonly problems such as serious deductions and losses, difficulty in settling accounts, long cycles, and large changes in cooperation methods; cooperative organizations create few agricultural product brands, and quality certification lags behind. From the perspective of the external environment of cooperatives, they also face the following difficulties: First, little support. At present, due to financial difficulties, no special support funds for farmers' cooperatives have been established. Second, difficulty in obtaining loans. According to the regulations of financial institutions, cooperative organizations cannot apply for loans and can only apply in the name of individual members, but most members are unwilling to take risks and unwilling to take out joint loans; in addition, loans to cooperative organizations must be secured by fixed assets, but most farmers' cooperative organizations are weak, have few fixed assets, and some even have no fixed assets. Third, difficulty in attracting talent. Cooperative organizations are small in scale, talent cannot be brought in or retained, and invited experts cannot guide the production and operation of cooperative organizations at the front line for a long time. In addition, in production and operation they also face difficulties in land use, electricity use, taxation, insurance, guarantees, and transportation, among which the more commonly reported ones are: First, the tax filing problem. Farmers' specialized cooperatives are tax-exempt enterprises, but they must perform tax declaration procedures with the local State Taxation Bureau every month, especially planting cooperatives with strong seasonality of products, which must also handle zero declaration procedures outside the production season, which is very cumbersome and complicated. Second, the transportation problem. The time limit for cooperative organizations' affordable fresh produce direct trains to enter the city is too short, and overtime is subject to fines. Whether there is moderate prosperity or not depends mainly on the fellow villagers. Developing farmers' cooperative organizations is an effective way to raise the degree of farmers' organization, improve agricultural output efficiency, and realize moderate prosperity in rural areas in step with the rest of society. The government and relevant departments should actively support their development, give full play to their advantages, and promote the development of modern agriculture with new business methods.

First, strengthen policy support. First, improve credit support policies. With reference to Qingzhen City's honest farmer construction system, formulate a special credit evaluation system for farmers' cooperative organizations, and grant credit to cooperative organizations on the basis of credit assessment. The government should provide a certain loan interest subsidy to solve the seasonal and temporary shortage of funds of cooperative organizations. Establish a guarantee fund, form an agricultural microcredit guarantee company, and allow farmers' cooperative organizations to use their own assets as collateral or members to handle loan procedures in the form of joint guarantees. Establish a joint loan guarantee mechanism, and encourage and standardize credit cooperation and mutual fund assistance among cooperative organizations. Expand the scope of agricultural insurance for cooperative organizations and improve their ability to withstand market risks. Second, implement tax preferential policies. Earnestly implement tax reduction and exemption preferential policies. At the same time, simplify the relevant tax filing, tax payment, and tax refund procedures. For example, if farmers' specialized cooperative organizations need to receive or issue seasonal or temporary invoices, the tax authorities should provide convenience and allow them to receive and issue invoices directly at the service window; for cooperative organizations engaged in seasonal production, allow them to file taxes with the tax bureau only during the production season, and exempt them from tax filing procedures in other seasons. Third, improve other support policies. Further improve preferential policies for farmers' cooperative organizations in land use, electricity use, green channels, advertising, and other aspects, provide necessary support for construction land needed by cooperative organizations for production, processing, and warehousing, and increase guidance and support for "farmer-supermarket direct purchase."

Second, strengthen demonstration creation. Formulate standards for demonstration cooperative organizations at the county and township levels, carry out the work of evaluating demonstration cooperative organizations, select a group of cooperative organizations with obvious industrial characteristics and advantages, large operating scale, and excellent quality and safety, and of different industries and types for key cultivation, select excellent demonstration cooperative organizations every year, and gradually build a group of farmers' cooperative demonstration organizations with regional and industrial characteristics throughout the city. Implement dynamic management of demonstration cooperative organizations, carry out regular or irregular supervision, and once a demonstration cooperative organization that does not meet the conditions is discovered, cancel its demonstration qualification immediately, and it may not apply for a demonstration cooperative organization project again within 3 years.

Third, strengthen technical support. Increase scientific and technological training for talent in the city's farmers' specialized cooperative organizations, give priority to arranging members of farmers' specialized cooperative organizations to receive agricultural science and technology training such as the "Sunshine Project," give priority to arranging farmers' specialized cooperative organizations to implement "science and technology demonstration household" construction projects, and townships with conditions may set up a "cooperative service day," organizing all chairmen of cooperative organizations and some members of cooperative organizations to participate, helping cooperative organizations broaden service areas and enhance marketing capabilities.

Fourth, strengthen financial support. The government should arrange a certain amount of special funds each year, focusing on supporting demonstration cooperative organizations, infrastructure construction, and technical training. Encourage and support the entrusting and arranging of agricultural and rural economic projects under construction to qualified farmers' cooperatives for implementation. Give one-time rewards to farmers' specialized cooperative organizations that register brands and obtain "three products and one label" and famous-brand agricultural product certification.

Fifth, strengthen guidance and assistance. Focus on strengthening the operation and management capacity and production and processing capacity of farmers' specialized cooperative organizations. For existing farmers' specialized cooperative organizations, help them formulate good charters, equip good leadership teams, establish good systems, improve organizational structures, and standardize internal management. Establish and improve interest linkage mechanisms, profit distribution mechanisms, and operation and service mechanisms. Assist cooperative organizations in clarifying development ideas, guide cooperative organizations to actively develop agricultural product processing, pay attention to deep processing of products as well as quality certification and brand building, establish marketing networks, and broaden service areas and industrial development space. Support cooperative organizations in building infrastructure such as warehousing, cold storage, and primary processing needed for self-run agricultural product processing.

Sixth, strengthen policy publicity. Adopt flexible and diverse forms to vigorously publicize the various preferential policies supporting the development of farmers' specialized cooperative organizations, and create a good atmosphere and public opinion environment that encourages and supports their development. Actively organize farmers' specialized cooperative organizations to participate in various agricultural product trade fairs, negotiations, product launch events, and famous brand selection activities, creating conditions for cooperative organizations to open up markets.