Research On The Development Of Farmers’ Professional Cooperatives In Shuozhou City

As an important part of rural collective economy, farmers’cooperatives play a key role in agricultural scale production and the increase of farmers’ income. Ever since the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee, the reform of rural household contract responsibility system with remuneration linked to output has offered farmers more freedom and independence to produce and manage, leading to rural economy’s recover and rapid development. However, no reform can be performed once and for all. With the development of market economy and the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization, the potential of small-scale peasant economy, in which farmers generally possess small-scale land, has performed to its extreme and revealed some flaws and negative effects. Since 1990s, the development and growth of agriculture had obviously slowed down, farmers tended to turn to other occupations, looking for jobs in cities and lands were transferred among peasants. Besides, agricultural production tended to be more diverse and large-scale. It was just in this situation that The Farmers’ Cooperative Law of People’s Republic of China was published in 2007, giving guidance and encouraging the normative development of farmers’cooperatives.For instance, the Shuozhou City of Shanxi Province has achieved a lot in promoting the development of modern agriculture, scale operation and farmers’cooperatives and set an example to other cities in Shanxi. Yet it also encountered a series of problems and restrictions along the process. The thesis intends to explore the problems of cooperatives in the central developing areas based on the study of Shuozhou’s farmers’cooperatives.The thesis contains four parts as follows:Chapter 1 Introduction of basic theories on farmers’cooperatives: concept definition; Marxism classical author’s basic theories on farmers’ cooperatives; related theories of Western scholars; and related policies of our country and Shanxi Province.Chapter 2 Current situation of farmers’cooperatives in Shuozhou, including their development process, basic situation, main characters and achievements.Chapter 3 Analysis on main problems and restriction factors of cooperatives’development in Shuozhou, which is the focus of this thesis. At present, there exist some problems as "value establishment more than standards", "value quantity more than quality", "value projects more than practice" and "value operation more than brands". According to analysis, lack of capacity is the fundamental restriction factor during cooperatives’ development, lack of talents is the primary cause; lack of fund is the direct cause and lack of government administration is another important restriction factor.Chapter 4 Choices on cooperatives’development direction:improve local government’s administration capacity; explore diverse operation models; reinforce and consummate inner administration system; and activate main social forces.