The Alienation and Correction of Specialized Farmers' Cooperatives: From the Perspectives of Government Regulations and Competition for Benefits

摘要

The phenomenon of violating the essential features of specialized fanners' cooperatives and making them profit-oriented enterprises is the alienation of specialized fanners' cooperatives. At present, the alienation is difficult to be eliminated as specialized farmers' cooperatives are in their initial stage. This paper firstly points out three essential features of specialized farmers' cooperatives which are different from those of generally profit-oriented enterprises, namely, serving the members as a primary goal, being controlled by all members and benefiting "users" first. The reason why these cooperatives exist in large numbers is the imbalance of benefits of government which represents the public interest, regulatory agencies and their staffs, social capitals, rich farmers and vulnerable smallholders. The key to restraining this kind of alienation is promoting the standardization of specialized farmers' cooperatives.