Agricultural Cleaner Production: An Economic Analysis

The traditional agricultural production mode with high consumption, high pollution, and low quality has already restrained the healthy and stable development of the agriculture in our country. We should find a way that can not only guarantee the agricultural improvement, but realize the harmonious development among the agricultural production, the human health and the natural resources environment. Agricultural Cleaner Production is different from the traditional end-treatment of pollution, but maintains that we shoud reduce at furthest even dispel pollution from the source, implement the total quality control to the whole production process, fully consider the environmental factor in product or service design. So it is necessary of Agricultural Cleaner Production to improve the quality of agricultural product and the living standards of the people, and realize the sustainable development of agriculture in our country.Both the civil and international research of Cleaner Production focus on the industrial field, evin if the a few research of Agricultural Cleaner Production stay only in the technological field, which can only givea temporary relief but could not get a permanent cure. Using the theories of property right economics, information economics and industrial economics etc., the thesis analyses various kinds of economic factors from multi-subject and many angle that influence agricultural operator to implement the Agricultural Cleaner Production, and puts forward the corresponding solution means, in the hope of providing some thinkings for the research and management of Agricultural Cleaner Production.The main opinions of the thesis are as follows:1. The concept intention and developing practice of Agricultural Cleaner Production. The end-treatment can not solve the pollution problem fundamentally, but Cleaner Production puts the prevention first, dispels the pollutant in the production process, practises the full-distance control to the production, ande has opened up a new way of pollution control. Cleaner Production includes the contents of three respects: cleaner energy, cleaner production process and cleaner products or service, its key purpose is to minimize the pollutant and save resources. Cleaner Production is a relative and dynamic concept, and it isnecessary to establish the higher standard in good time to realize the constant development. Our country has attached all the time great importance to Cleaner Production as other developed countries and pursued Cleaner Production actively, and we have made very great progress. However, the idea of Cleaner Production still only exists in the industrial field. In fact, the agricultura pollution is being serious day by day with the improvement of the agricultural modernization level, and it needs Cleaner Production too in the agriculture field. Although Agricultural Cleaner Production aims at protecting the agricultural environment and improving the quality of agricultural products as well as Non-Pollution agriculture, but its range is wider, includes all stages of agricultural production.2. The institution of agricultrual environmetal property rights and Agricultual Cleaner Production. The clean agricultural environment is the external condition of implementing Agricultural Cleaner Production. "Market Failure" and "Governmetn Failure" are economics reasons for agricultural environmental pollution. The government as well as every market subject enjoys the fair right that its health and welfare won't be infringed upon, either party must not be forced to bear the result of agricultural pollution which is not proportional to its behavior, that is to say, the economics essence of the agricultural environmental pollution is the problem of the fair. "Polluter Pays Principle" is a basic principle of pollution administration which various countries follow at present, but the feasibility of the principle reduces greatly for the reason that it is so difficult to confirm accurately the marginal external cost of agricultural products, and End-chargement (End-treatment) is not Pareto Efficiency too. According to the Coase theorem, in a situation that there is transaction costs, the property right can influence efficiency, but it is difficult to practice property right negotiation. So the primary work is to define agricultural environmental property right well and make it marketable effectively. The thesis proposes that it is necessary to divid agricultureal environmental property right into ultimate ownership (to the central government), elementary right to use (to the local government) and final right to use (to the agricultural operators), and the initial distribution of the elementary and final right to use is free. At the same time, we shoule provide various kinds of conditions to make the agricultureal environmental property right marketable.3. The Principal of High Quality and Proper Price going with AsymmetryInformation in Agricultural Cleaner Production. The quality of clean agricultural products is relatively higher, but Agricultural Cleaner Production requires the strict production process, which results in the higher cost. Only the principle of High Quality and Proper Price be. insisted on, could a agricultural operator obtain profits from Agricultural Cleaner Production, which excites their enthusiasm and initiative. Because such reasons as income level, market structure, standard system, technological level, Asymmetry Information etc., the principal is unable to be carried out smoothly, and it is the Asymmetry Information that plays a main role. The market consequence of the Asymmetry Information is Adverse Selection of producers and consumers, which has caused great losses of the total social welfare. The reasons for Asymmetry Information in Agricultural Cleaner Production can be divided into odjective reasons (division of labor in society and specialized, the homogeneity of agricultural products, the information costs etc.) and subjective ones (the limited knowledge, information monopoly, the small scale). The thesis proposes that in order to solve the Asymmetry Information, besides essential government intervention, the more important thing is to utilize the market mechanism itself to design the effective information transmission system, such as establishing long-term cooperation between the producer and consumer etc..4. The industrial organization institution of Agricultural Cleaner Production. The historical evolution of the agricultural industrial organization institution is the course that the production relations are meeting constantly the developing needs of productive forces. The family-contract responsibility system has played enormous function in the course of agricultural development. Under the family-contract responsibility system, the farm products market is close to the perfect competition state, and the only rational choice of the agricultural operator as limited rational economic man is to abandon Agricultural Cleaner Production and turn to the price competition, which forms the "Price Pitfall" of the farm products market. The basic way to promote Agricultural Cleaner Production is to organize and combine the marketing subjects, that is to say the marketing subjects become centralized and united, and form the market structure of monopolize-competition. The mode of organization and combination can be vertical and horizontal, the former means the concentration of the different marketing subjects from every stage of Agricultural Cleaner Production, such as all kinds of integrative enterprises; The latter means the organization of the similar marketingsubjects from some a stage of Agricultural Cleaner Production, for instance all kinds of agricultural cooperative organizations, peasant association, consumers association etc.. No matter any types of organization and combination, they have all improved greatly the organized degree and business scale of the marketing subjects, realized the effective competition in Agricultural Cleaner Production. They represent the direction of the development of the agricultural industrial organization, and perform inestimable function to promote Agricultural Cleaner Production. So it is the system guarantee to innovate the agricultural industrial organization institution to implement Agricultural Cleaner Production.5. The agricultural trade association and Agricultural Cleaner Production. The trade association is the non-profit folk organization that made up voluntarily of enterprises or operating units in the same industry to maintain the common benefits in the development of the social economy. It is the important measure of government to develop the trade association to manage enterprises from direct control to indirect control. During the process of pursuing Agricultural Cleaner Production, the agricultural trade association as the industry manangment organization, playes an irreplaceable role. The evolution of the agricultural trade association in our country can roughly be divided into three stages. At the present stage, it does not meet the needs of Agricultural Cleaner Production yet, on one hand the amount is small, on the other hand, the existing trade associations have such problems as the strong official status, more affiliation limits, imperfect legal and organizational system and the low quality of staff. Using the external experience for reference, we can improve the trade association and the implementation of Agricultural Cleaner Production by such means as accelerating the legislation of the economic cooperation, increasing the support of government, and strengthening the self-building of the trade association etc..6. Government and Agricultural Cleaner Production. The "Market Failure" in Agricultural Cleaner Production is the essential terms to implement government interference, but not the abundant condition, because there is "Government Failure" too. We should define well the function margin between the government and market. Government possesses such advangtages as fund, information, cost and talents, which created conditions for its intervention in Agricultural Cleaner Production. The economic functions that the government should perform in agricultural cleaner production are the followings: Offering the publicservice, providing the industry plans, safeguarding the market order, carrying on the institution reform and innovation, and implementing the essential government control (economic control).