Participation Of Professional Forestry Cooperatives In Collective Forest Areas,social Capital Impact On Farm Household Income

The No.1 document of the Central Government in 2023 proposed that in order to promote the efficiency of agricultural operations,in-depth development of new agricultural business entities to enhance action,support family farms to form farmers’ cooperatives,drive small farmers to cooperate and increase income together.At present,small farmers’ operations are fragmented,with high transaction costs and market risks,resulting in a low return on investment for small farmers’ production.The establishment of professional forestry cooperatives can effectively connect small farmers with large markets,improve the degree of forestry specialization and organization,create intensive and large-scale operations,and increase farmers’ income.However,if we consider the economic function alone,we cannot give full play to the effectiveness of forestry professional cooperatives,and we should also pay attention to their social functions in expanding farmers’ organizational network and stabilizing the interest linkage between cooperatives and farmers.Therefore,analyzing the impact of forestry professional cooperatives’ participation and social capital on farmers’ income is conducive to enriching the theory of cooperatives’ income increase,improving the social function of cooperatives,and making effective policy suggestions for promoting farmers’ income.Based on theories related to institutional change theory,transaction cost theory,farmer behavior theory,economy of scale theory,agricultural weakness theory,and social capital theory,a mechanistic analysis was conducted on the participation of forestry professional cooperatives and social capital affecting farm household income.Second,using the monitoring data of collective forest rights system reform in Shaanxi Province in 2018,we compare and analyze the differences between farmers participating in professional forestry cooperatives and non-participating farmers in terms of farmers’ basic characteristics,household resource endowment,income status and social capital;based on two aspects of farmers’ income level and income status,we use multiple linear regression methods and ordered probit regression models to study the In order to eliminate the influence of self-selection bias of farmers,the propensity score matching method(PSM)was used to test the results;the Sobel-Goodman test was used to explore the mediating role of social capital between the participation of forestry professional cooperatives and farmers’ income.The main findings were obtained as follows:(1)Among the 494 valid samples,178 farmers participated in forestry professional cooperatives and 316 farmers did not participate.Farmers’ enthusiasm for participation is not high and the benefit linkage mechanism of professional forestry cooperatives is not strong,so the effect of promoting farmers’ income is not obvious.(2)Participation in professional forestry cooperatives has a significant positive effect on the income level and income status of farm households.Based on the PSM test,the results of the effect of participation in professional forestry cooperatives on farm households’ income increase are robust.Participation in professional forestry cooperatives brought about 22.9% of overall income increase for farm households,and at the same time,brought about 121.7% of forestry income increase for farm households.(3)The results of the intermediate effect test showed that farmers’ participation in professional forestry cooperatives significantly and positively affected farmers’ social capital,and farmers’ social capital and participation in professional forestry cooperatives significantly and positively affected farmers’ income.This further confirms that participation in professional forestry cooperatives increases farmers’ income by increasing farmers’ social capital.Combining the above conclusions,corresponding policy recommendations are put forward: optimize the service functions of forestry professional cooperatives and improve operational efficiency;standardize the operation of forestry professional cooperatives and fully exploit the effect of social capital;strengthen publicity and promotion to increase the participation rate of farmers;expand diversified development paths and improve the comprehensive strength of forestry professional cooperatives.