64 farmers' cooperatives have reached an operating scale of over 100 million yuan

Reported on October 17 (Reporter Li Yong, Correspondent Lyu Yuntao) In Hunan, a major agricultural province, farmers' cooperatives are becoming an effective vehicle driving farmers from "small-scale production" into the "big market." At the provincial farmers' cooperative experience exchange meeting held today in Lixian County, Changde, it was revealed that as of the end of September this year, the total number of farmers' cooperatives in the province reached 22,904, with more than 1.85 million farming households as members, and 64 cooperatives with an operating scale of over 100 million yuan had emerged.

Farmers' cooperatives in our province got their start in the mid-to-late 1990s. After years of development, the cooperatives have explored four models: "led by capable individuals, driven by companies, guided by brands, and cooperation of production factors," with accelerating development speed, continuously expanding scale, and strengthening driving effects. In the rural areas of our province, rural capable individuals, leading enterprises, grassroots agricultural technology service organizations, migrant workers returning to start businesses, and university graduates have become the driving force behind establishing cooperatives. The Lixian Nongkang Grape Cooperative, led by large-scale grape grower Wang Xianrong, integrated dozens of local grape sales brands into a single strong force to enter the market, achieving an annual output value of 260 million yuan.

The organization of cooperatives has developed from small-scale and scattered types toward scale-based and joint types, with a total of 102 various joint cooperatives established across the province. Hunan Longping High-Tech Grain-Growing Cooperative had 9 grassroots cooperatives and more than 3,000 member households when it was established in 2007. Six years later, the cooperative has 42 grassroots cooperatives and 12,600 member households, and its grain-growing area has expanded from 12,500 mu that year to more than 210,000 mu.

Whether farmers' cooperatives are good or not, the "pocketbooks" of member farmers are the best testimony. According to statistics, last year farmers across the province received 2.6 billion yuan in surplus rebates from cooperatives. The income of households that joined cooperatives averaged more than 20% higher than that of other farming households. The Axiang Citrus Cooperative in Anhua County registered the "Axiang" citrus trademark, with products exported to Kazakhstan, Russia and other countries. Last year its output value was 130 million yuan, increasing farmers' income by 42 million yuan.

Through specialized production of agricultural products, farmers' cooperatives have promoted the development of modern agriculture. By the end of 2012, farmers' cooperatives had transferred a total of 5.18 million mu of land, invested more than 3 billion yuan in building agricultural facilities, and more than 900 cooperatives had achieved traceable product quality, while nearly 1,000 cooperatives had passed pollution-free and green product quality certification.