Research On Quality And Safety Control Behavior And Performance Of Agricultural Products In Farmers’ Cooperatives

Agricultural product quality and safety is the key to improving the efficiency and competitiveness of the agricultural sector,and is of great significance to the realization of rural revitalization.In order to improve the agricultural product quality and safety,China has recently introduced a certification system for edible agricultural products.Although the government and society are paying more and more attention to the agricultural product quality and safety,incidents of agricultural product quality and safety are still occurring.The solution requires all producers,including farmers’ cooperatives,to strictly fulfill their primary responsibility for agricultural product quality and safety.Farmers’ cooperatives are the key carrier for the organic connection between small-scale farmers and the development of modern agriculture,and play an increasingly important role in agricultural product quality and safety.Farmers’ cooperatives can effectively participate in the agricultural products quality and safety through measures such as scientific management,variety improvement,and standardized production,and play an important role in ensuring the agricultural product quality and safety.However,farmers’ cooperatives established relatively late in China,and most of them are in the initial stage.So,farmers’ cooperatives are less motivated to implement agricultural product quality and safety control behavior in pre-production,mid-production and post-production.This stems from the common constraints of multiple stakeholders.The realization of agricultural product quality and safety control behavior in farmers’ cooperatives needs to take into account the different interests of stakeholders,otherwise,it is difficult to achieve the expected economic goals of agricultural product quality and safety control behavior in cooperatives.Therefore,this study systematically analyzes the causes and consequences of agricultural product quality and safety control behavior in farmers’ cooperatives from the perspective of stakeholders,in order to promote the high-quality development of farmers’ cooperatives,improve agricultural product quality and safety,and facilitate the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy.Based on TQM theory,stakeholder theory,game theory,and SCP theory,this study constructs a logical analysis framework for agricultural product quality and safety control behavior of farmers’ cooperatives.This study examines the influence of stakeholders on the agricultural product quality and safety control behavior in farmers’ cooperatives,the influence of agricultural product quality and safety control behavior on the performance of farmers’ cooperatives,and the influence paths of stakeholders and agricultural product quality and safety control behavior of farmers’ cooperatives and their performance.Therefore,based on the conclusions,put forward corresponding policy suggestions.The main research contents and relevant conclusions are as follows:First,there is significant variability in stakeholder,agricultural product quality and safety control behavior and performance of farmers’ cooperatives in Liaoning Province.From the macroeconomic data,while the quality of farmers’ cooperatives has improved,there are still problems such as uneven development,irregular internal management,lack of talents,and insufficient awareness of quality and safety.From the survey data,first of all,in terms of stakeholders,the managers of farmers’ cooperatives have a certain sense of responsibility,and believe that the implementation of agricultural product quality and safety control will produce economic effects.His management and innovation capabilities are high,and security-related policy awareness and learning ability are insufficient.Some of them believe that the government’s propaganda,subsidies,supervision and punishment are insufficient.As consumers have higher and higher requirements for agricultural product quality and safety,the demand and willingness of consumers to purchase high-quality and safe agricultural products are becoming stronger and stronger,and farmers’ cooperatives are likely to strengthen agricultural product quality and safety control.In addition,in terms of agricultural products,farmers’ cooperatives have unified procurement of agricultural materials,procurement records,standard use of pesticides(chemical fertilizers),intervals of pesticides(chemical fertilizers),biological control of pests and diseases,training related to quality and safety,implementing self-inspection,and signing a contract.There are certain differences in sales contracts,product brands,product certification and traceability systems.Finally,in terms of the performance of farmers’ cooperatives,it can be seen from the income,net profit,fixed assets and other inputs of farmers’ cooperatives that the development of farmers’ cooperatives is uneven.Second,cognition and ability of managers,government regulation and consumer purchase have a positive influence on agricultural product quality and safety control behavior in farmers’ cooperatives.First of all,the low level of agricultural product quality and safety control in farmers’ cooperatives,and the low level of procurement and production links are the main reasons for the low level of overall agricultural product quality and safety control.In addition,the managers of farmers’ cooperatives,governments and consumers are the key stakeholders of agricultural product quality and safety control behavior of farmers’ cooperatives.Finally,cognition and ability of managers,government regulation and consumer purchase have a positive influence on agricultural product quality and safety control behavior in farmers’ cooperatives:(1)Cognition and ability of managers have a positive influence on agricultural product quality and safety control behavior of farmers’ cooperatives.Specifically,policy cognition,responsibility cognition,effect cognition,management ability,and learning ability of managers have a significant positive influence on agricultural product quality and safety control behavior in farmers’ cooperatives,but the effect which innovation ability of managers has an influence on agricultural product quality and safety control behavior in farmers’ cooperatives is not significant.(2)Government regulation has a positive influence on agricultural product quality and safety control behavior of farmers’ cooperatives.Specifically,government subsidies,government supervision,and government punishment have a significant positive influence on agricultural product quality and safety control behavior of farmers’ cooperatives,but government propaganda does not have significant influence on agricultural product quality and safety control behavior of farmers’ cooperatives.(3)Consumer purchase have a positive influence on agricultural product quality and safety control behavior of farmers’ cooperatives.Specifically,the degree of consumer need,the degree of demand and the willingness to purchase have a significant positive influence on agricultural products quality and safety control behavior of farmers’ cooperatives.Third,agricultural product quality and safety control behavior has a positive impact on the performance of farmers’ cooperatives.Above all,the performance level of farmers’ cooperatives is low.The lack of comprehensive efficiency of farmers’ cooperatives is caused by the combined effect of insufficient pure technical efficiency and insufficient scale efficiency,but the main reason for its low average technical efficiency is its low pure technical efficiency,not its low scale efficiency.Technical efficiency of the vast majority of farmers’ cooperatives is low,and only a few farmers’ cooperatives have high technical efficiency;the pure technical efficiency of most farmers’ cooperatives is also low,and only a few farmers’ cooperatives have high pure technical efficiency;most farmers’ cooperatives have relatively high level of scale efficiency.Furthermore,agricultural product quality and safety control behavior has a significant positive effect on the performance of farmers’ cooperatives,i.e.,the higher the quality and safety control level of agricultural products in farmers’ cooperatives,the higher the performance level.Fourth,agricultural product quality and safety control behavior has a mediating role between the performance of stakeholders and farmers’ cooperatives.Agricultural product quality and safety control behavior plays an intermediary role in the influence of managers’ policy cognition and effect cognition on the performance of farmers’ cooperatives,but does not play an intermediary role in the influence of managers’ responsibility cognition,management ability,learning ability,and innovation ability on the performance of farmers’ cooperatives.Agricultural product quality and safety control behavior plays an intermediary role in the influence of government punishment and farmers’ cooperatives performance,but does not play an intermediary role in the influence of government propaganda,government subsidies,government supervision and farmers’ cooperatives’ performance.Agricultural product quality and safety control behavior does not play an intermediary role in the influence of consumer need,consumer demand,the willingness to purchase and farmers’ cooperatives performance.Based on the finding of this study,policy measures are proposed from four aspects of managers,government,consumers and farmers’ cooperatives to improve agricultural product quality and safety control level of farmers’ cooperatives,guarantee agricultural product quality and safety in China,and promote the standardized development of farmers’ cooperatives.(1)On the managers side,improve managers’ cognitive level and their own abilities;(2)On the government side,increase the propaganda,supervision and punishment of agricultural product quality and safety,and at the same time formulate a reasonable subsidy policy for agricultural product quality and safety control by farmers’ cooperatives;(3)On the consumers side,establish a sense of responsible consumption;(4)On the farmers’ cooperative side,improve the service function of farmers’ cooperatives,and enhance the awareness of norms and self-discipline.The innovations of this study are:First,this study connects multiple stakeholders such as managers,governments,and consumers,and constructs a theoretical framework of "stakeholders-agricultural product quality and safety control behavior-farmers’ cooperative performance".Existing studies mainly focus on a single level,but for agricultural product quality and safety control behavior of farmers’ cooperatives,core stakeholders such as managers,government,and consumers reflect the antecedent variables of behavior,behavior points to agricultural product quality and safety control behavior,and performance belongs to consequence variables of behavior.There is some antecedent and consequence relationship among them.Therefore,this study constructs a theoretical framework of "stakeholders-agricultural product quality and safety control behavior-farmers’ cooperative performance",which makes up for the lack of existing literature on the cause-and-effect relationship between stakeholders,agricultural product quality and safety control behavior,and the performance of farmers’ cooperative.Second,this study clarifies the internal influence logic among stakeholders,agricultural product quality and safety control behavior,and farmers’ cooperative performance.This study analyzes the influence of stakeholders on agricultural product quality and safety control behavior in farmers’ cooperatives,the influence of agricultural product quality and safety control behavior on the performance of farmers’ cooperatives,and the influence path between stakeholders and agricultural product quality and safety control behavior of farmers’ cooperatives and performance.To some extent,it makes up for the shortcomings of the existing research.In addition,this study identifies the key stakeholders of farmers’ cooperatives’ agricultural product quality and safety control behavior through quantitative analysis,overcoming the limitations of previous qualitative analysis methods such as multi-dimensional segmentation or Mitchell’s scoring method,which are highly subjective.Third,this study systematically evaluates and analyzes agricultural product quality and safety control behavior of farmers’ cooperatives based on the procurement,production,sales,and traceability links,so it is innovative to a certain extent.Previous studies on agricultural product quality and safety control behavior of farmers’ cooperatives were mostly based on a single indicator or multiple the form of index combination substitution lacks comprehensive measurement of agricultural product quality and safety control behavior of farmers’ cooperatives.In addition,the existing research focuses on agricultural product quality and safety control behavior of agricultural enterprises or farmers,and there is a lack of relevant research on agricultural product quality and safety control behavior of farmers’ cooperatives,an important new type of agricultural business entity.This study focuses on the agricultural product quality and safety control behavior of farmers’ cooperatives,a specific economic organization,and enriches and expands the practicality of related theories.