Research On Farmer Cooperative Economic Organization Promoting Agricultural Labor Division And Specialization Development

The implementation of Chinese household contract responsibility system aroused farmers' enthusiasm of agricultural production, improved agricultural productivity greatly. But with the development of market economy and the intensification of international competition, the limitation of this system begins to appear:the sharp contradiction between small-scale production of scattered farmers and large-scale market, the frequent fluctuation of agricultural production market, the increasement of risk that farmers faced, and farmers' weak ability in shielding against risk. With a large number of rural labor transfer, the division of labor between agricultural and non-agricultural industry in farmer household is realized, and the agricultural labor division and specialization in non-agricultural industry has made great progress, but the division of labor and specialization in agricultural field has not got a corresponding improvement, which not only hinders the division of labor and cooperation between agriculture and non-agricultural industry, but also make it difficult for agriculture to get benefit from increasing returns of industry by roundabout production. Under household production mode, the individual farmer involved in agricultural labor division and specialization will face high transaction cost and bear huge specialization risk. Under this background, the farmer cooperative economic organization arise gradually, which are based on the principles of mutual cooperation, in order to save farmers' transaction cost and reduce their specialization risk. It will be the effective way of offering long-term incentive to agricultural production and promoting the development of agricultural labor division and specialization. However, behind the booming trend, farmer cooperative economic organization still has many serious problems. Its promotion to development of agricultural division of labor and specialization is very limited, compared with developed countries, which is the reality background and starting point of this study.At the same time, the academic research about agricultural labor division and specialization is obviously insufficient. Most of the literatures focus on the role and impact of agricultural labor division and specialization, while the research on the formation and evolution process and mechanism of agricultural labor division and specialization are rare. Although some Chinese literatures advanced that farmer cooperative economic organization is effective way to promote the development of agricultural labor division and specialization, they are also focusing on the development factors, function and role, internal governance structure of farmer cooperative economic organization. There is little research on how to organize the farmers attending agricultural labor division and specialization development under the condition of land fragmentation and ultra-small scale production. This thesis argues this problem is serious policy challenge faced by many developing countries including China, and also is an important research area about transformation of traditional agriculture in development economics and agricultural economics, and is an important research problem in the research area of division of labor and specialization as well.Under above academic and practical background, this thesis use analysis tools including transaction cost economics, farmer household economics, cooperation economic theory, and new classical economics, adopt research methods containing logic ideological analysis, theoretical model analysis, empirical model analysis and typical case study analysis, to explain the mechanism of Chinese farmer cooperative economic organizations promote agricultural labor division and specialization development, to explore the future direction of the development of Chinese farmer cooperative organization, agricultural labor division and specialization, on the basis of current research achievements.So, the science question of this thesis includes:(1) the necessity of farmer cooperative economic organization's generation under the perspective of division of labor and specialization, (2) the rationale of farmer cooperative economic organization promoting agricultural labor division and specialization development.The main content of this thesis includes:(1) The limitation of family production mode to agricultural labor division and specialization development. By comparing the industrial characteristics of agriculture and industry, this thesis analyses the restrictive effect of the natural reproduction and economic reproduction interweave characteristics of agriculture to agricultural labor division and specialization development. On this basis, this thesis analyses the restrictive effect of family production mode to agricultural labor division and specialization development, by analyzing how family production mode causes single scattered farmer has feeble feature, which cause farmer can't pay high transaction cost, examination cost and coordination cost resulting from agricultural labor division, and also can't bear enormous agricultural specialization risk resulting from agricultural specialization.(2) The necessity of farmer cooperative economic organization generation under the background of family production mode. This thesis explains the realistic logic of farmer cooperative economic organization generation, uses inframarginal model in new classical economics to examine the decisive influence of transaction efficiency to the generation of farmer cooperative economic organization, analyzes how farmer cooperative economic organization help farmers balance between agricultural labor division and transaction cost, balance between agricultural specialization and family security, balance between farmer household with multiple occupations and professional farmer, compares the advantages and disadvantages of different labor division organizing modes among farmer cooperative economic organization mode, market mode, contract farming mode, and enterprise mode, to study the necessity of farmer cooperative economic organization generation under the background of family production mode.(3) The development and change of Chinese farmer cooperative economic organizations, and the different forms and characteristics of current Chinese farmer cooperative economic organizations. This thesis analyzes the development history of Chinese farmer cooperative economic organizations, explores the historical background of farmer cooperative economic organization generation, which is more suitable to promote agricultural labor division and specialization development, analyses the type and characteristics about agricultural labor division and specialization of current farmer cooperative economic organizations. From government leading mandatory institutional change before Chinese economic reform to farmer spontaneous induced institutional change after Chinese economic reform, current farmer cooperative economic organization shows more vigorous. Although current fanner cooperative economic organizations promote agricultural labor division evolution and agricultural specialization development partly, there are still some problems and difficulties for the development of organizations.(4) The promotion and coordination of farmer cooperative economic organization to agricultural labor division under the background of family production mode. Agricultural labor division can bring labor division income to farmers, while it can produce transaction cost. So it is important for the farmers to balance between agricultural labor division and transaction cost. Agricultural industrial characteristics and family production mode limit the evolution of agricultural labor division in some extent. This thesis analyzes how farmer cooperative economic organization break the limitation of family production mode to help farmers balance between agricultural labor division and transaction cost effectively to explore the rationale of farmer cooperative economic organization coordinating and promoting agricultural labor division.(5) The promotion of farmer cooperative economic organization to agricultural specialization under the background of family production mode. Agricultural specialization can bring specialization income to farmers; while it can produce specialization risk threaten farmer's family security. So it is important for the farmers to balance between agricultural specialization and family security. Agricultural industrial characteristics and family production mode limit the development of agricultural specialization in some extent. This thesis analyzes how farmer cooperative economic organization break the limitation of family production mode to help farmers balance between agricultural specialization and family security, balance between farmer household with multiple occupations and professional farmer effectively, to explore the rationale of farmer cooperative economic organization promoting agricultural specialization.The main conclusion of this thesis includes: (1) The restrictions of family production mode to agricultural labor division and specialization development are as follows;â‘ Family production mode make it difficult for individual farmer to pay search cost, inspection cost, monitoring cost, evaluating cost and coordination cost, thus limiting the ability and extent of farmer to obtain the labor division economy.â‘¡The specialized production increase the likelihood of farmer facing risk greatly, undermine the effectiveness of farmer avoiding risk by diversification of production; in the meanwhile, the urgency of protecting family security, the biodiversity, seasonal production, non-continuous labor input of agriculture restrict farmer's willingness and ability of specialized production.(2) Agricultural labor division is a necessary but not sufficient condition for agricultural specialization; it is a gradual process from agricultural labor division to agricultural specialization, and it is a qualitative leap from the evolution of agricultural labor division to agricultural specialization development. Once farmer chooses to attend the agricultural labor division, it determines the direction of its agricultural specialization, but this choice does not mean that agricultural specialization can be achieved immediately. Compared to the gradual process from labor division to specialization of industry and service industry, family production mode make the gradual process from agricultural labor division to specialization longer and has greater uncertainty.(3) It is difficult for individual farmer to attend agricultural labor division through market, enterprise, contract farming and other ways, under family production mode. Individual farmer attend agricultural labor division only through (?)rket will face greater market uncertainty and high transaction cost. The life process of agricultural production is difficult to complete in the enterprise only through the authoritative command. Individual farmer attend agricultural labor division through contract farming can reduce transaction cost partly, but it will produce risk of opportunism, which will affect the stability of the contract seriously. Therefore, under the family production mode, the organization mode of labor division including market, enterprise and contract farming, are not suitable for individual farmer to attend agricultural labor division and specialization development.(4) From the perspective of division of labor and specialization, the generation condition of farmer cooperative economic organization is its coordination efficiency to agricultural labor division is higher than market transaction efficiency, and it can make farmers who attend agricultural labor division get higher utility level. The improvement of transaction efficiency is the necessary condition of agricultural labor division evolution. Only when the coordination efficiency of farmer cooperative economic organization to agricultural labor division is higher than market transaction efficiency, farmer cooperative economic organization is an inevitable choice for farmer to attend agricultural labor division. When the lower the learn cost for farmer to attend agricultural labor division, and the more the specialization benefit, the easier for farmer to attend agricultural labor division by farmer cooperative economic organization. Transaction service is separated from agricultural production and sales, and the improvement of the transaction efficiency of transaction service can increase the farmers'utility level who attends agricultural labor division. (5) From the perspective of division of labor and specialization, the necessity of farmer cooperative economic organization generation is it not only can ensure the long-term incentives of family production mode to agricultural production, but also can reduce the transaction cost of individual farmer, and improve the ability to resist risk of individual farmer, which can make individual farmer get more benefits from agricultural labor division and specialization development. Family production mode is the most effective agricultural production and operation organization form at present stage, which can encourage farmers work on agricultural production. While individual farmer attend agriculture labor division and engage in specialized production will face high transaction cost and great specialization risk. On the basis of ensuring the long-term incentives of family production mode to agricultural production, farmer cooperative economic organization connect individual farmers together by cooperation way, and ensure individual farmer has residual claim, can reduce the transaction cost of individual farmer, improve the ability to resist risk of individual farmer effectively, enable farmers to get the maximum benefits from agricultural labor division and specialization, so as to promote agricultural labor division and specialization development.(6) Farmer cooperative economic organization improve farmer's willingness and ability to get benefits from agricultural labor division and specialization, and promote the development of agricultural labor division and specialization, through improving farmers balance between agricultural labor division and transaction cost, balance between agricultural specialization and family security, balance between farmer household with multiple occupations and professional farmer.â‘¡Farmer cooperative economic organization improve the balance efficiency between agricultural labor division and transaction cost, expand the scope of labor division economy, improve the willingness and ability of farmer to attend agricultural labor division, through reducing transaction cost, coordination cost, examination cost, and expanding market range.â‘¡Farmer cooperative economic organization help farmer better balance between agricultural specialization and family safety, balance between farmer household with multiple occupations and professional farmer, and promote the development of agricultural specialization, through reducing specialization risk and improving risk averse ability and specialization benefit. In the meanwhile, it strengthen farmer's specialized production ability and confidence, through improving farmer's personal specialized level, agricultural production roundabout degree and standardization level.The possible innovation of this thesis includes:(1) Innovation of research perspective. Most current research about farmer cooperative economic organization pays more attention to its institution, mode and governance structure. This thesis study the necessity of farmer cooperative economic organization generation, and its promoting effect to agricultural division of labor and specification development, from the perspective of agricultural labor division and specialization development. It open a broader research vision for the research of farmer cooperative economic organization. (2) Innovation of the research content.â‘ This thesis enriches the conceptual framework of agricultural division of labor and specialization. It analyzes the constraint of family production mode to agricultural division of labor and specialization.â‘¡From the aspect of promoting agricultural division of labor evolution and development of agricultural specialization, this thesis reveals the necessity of farmer cooperative economic organization emergence. It expands and improves the theoretical framework of farmer cooperative economic organization and enriches the research content of farmer cooperative economic organization.â‘¢This thesis clarifies the mechanism of farmer cooperative economic organization coordinating agricultural division of labor and promoting agricultural specialization development under family production mode. So it provides the theoretical support and practical experience for traditional agriculture transformation and improvement of farmers' organization degree under small scale production and land fragmentation condition.(3) Innovation of research viewpoint. This thesis put forward a series of new viewpoints as follows:agricultural division of labor is a necessary but not sufficient condition for agricultural specialization, it is a gradual process from agricultural division of labor to agricultural specialization; farmer cooperative economic organization can help farmer balance between agricultural division of labor and transaction cost, balance between agricultural specialization and family security, balance between farmer household with multiple occupations and professional farmer, and it can promote agricultural labor division evolution and agricultural specialization development.