Farmers’ organizations and sustainable development: An introduction

This special issue features 14 new research papers investigating the role of farmers’ organizations (e.g., collective action, self-help groups, producer companies/organizations, and cooperatives) in supporting sustainable development. The key findings include: (1) farmer groups and cooperatives promote farmers’ adoption of good farm management practices, new agricultural technologies and sustainable farming practices, although not substantially improving farm yield; (2) outsourcing services provided by agricultural cooperatives help to increase the technical efficiency of crop production; (3) cooperative membership enhances members’ bargaining power and enables them to sell their products at higher prices; (4) cooperatives motivate rural laborers to work in off-farm sectors, while self-help groups empower rural women in decision-making; (5) internet use improves agricultural cooperatives’ economic, social, and innovative performances; (6) direct administrative intervention supporting cooperative development may lead to the emergence of shell cooperatives; (7) participation in forest farmer organizations enables wood value chain upgrading; (8) increasing the cooperative size in terms of income, equity, and assets increases the profitability of savings and credit cooperatives; and (9) creating cross-border cooperation between cooperatives generates benefits for all parties involved. These findings can inspire the design of policies aimed to support farmers’ organizations in achieving sustainable development goals.     

A REVIEW OF THE EMPIRICAL LITERATURE ON FARMER COOPERATIVES: PERFORMANCE,OWNERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE,FINANCE, AND MEMBER ATTITUDE

The empirical literature on farmer cooperatives is now fast emerging and developing in the areas of performance, ownership and governance, finance, and member attitude. We discuss 56 peer‐reviewed publications to illustrate the main findings and conclusions while outlining challenges and opportunities for future research. Generally, cooperative membership is found to positively impact price, yield, input adoption, income, and other indicators of member performance, yet there is growing evidence of an uneven distribution of benefits for small and large producers. In terms of structure, evidence of a causal relationship of ownership and governance to performance has been elusive, yet there are now many findings of inherent equity and long‐term debt constraints, often in the context of consolidation to drive scale and scope economies. Further inefficiency is observed to be driven by increased heterogeneity in member attitudes and objectives, in particular in terms of commitment and participation. Thus, overall, empirical work portrays farmer cooperatives as flawed and complex business organizations which nonetheless have a strong positive impact on its members. While applied research may progress in various directions, a general improvement in empirical methodologies is needed to allow robust analysis of mixed objectives in dynamic environments.     

农民专业合作社收益分配机制及影响因素分析

收益分配制度是确定农民专业合作社和社员关系的关键因素。从决策机制、股权结构、合作社文化等方面分析我国不同地区农民专业合作经济组织收益分配制度,发现多种因素影响我国农民专业合作社分配制度,应从完善合作社社员大会制度、规范合作社的股权结构、完善分配制度等方面建立和完善农民专业合作社盈余分配机制,以实现合作社社会公平和经济效率的双重属性,促进农民专业合作社持续、健康发展。     

试论我国农民专业合作社成员权救济制度的构建

农民专业合作社是我国目前提高农民收入,实现农业专业化、产业化、规模化生产经营,解决"三农"问题,建设社会主义新农村的重要途径。2005年通过的《中华人民共和国农民专业合作社法》为我国农民专业合作社的发展提供了重要的法律保障。但合作社成员权救济制度的缺失,使得不能实质实现对合作社成员权利的保障,同时也制约了农民专业合作社的发展。我国应逐步建立健全农民专业合作社成员权救济制度,保护农民合作社成员合法权益,为我国农民专业合作社的健康发展保驾护航。     

Impact of cooperative membership on market performance of Nepali goat farmers

In developing countries, agricultural cooperatives are increasingly used by farmers as a mechanism to gain market power in input and output markets. To assess the impact of cooperative membership on market channel selection and pricing outcomes, we conducted a survey of 661 Nepali goat farmers in 2019–20 and applied an endogenous switching probit model to analyze the data. Our findings indicate that cooperative membership had a significant and positive influence on farmers choosing cooperatives as their market channel. Additionally, farmers who sold their goats through cooperatives received significantly higher prices than those who sold through local markets or to goat collectors. We also observed that farmers who had access to price information were able to obtain better prices for their goats. Overall, our study highlights the potential benefits of promoting cooperative membership and marketing through cooperatives, as these efforts can help farmers improve the returns on their agricultural investments.     

IMPACT OF AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES ON SMALLHOLDERS’ TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM ETHIOPIA

Using household survey data from Ethiopia, this paper evaluates the impact of agricultural cooperatives on smallholders’ technical efficiency. We used propensity score matching to compare the average difference in technical efficiency between cooperative member farmers and similar independent farmers. The results show that agricultural cooperatives are effective in providing support services that significantly contribute to members’ technical efficiency. These results are found to be insensitive to hidden bias and consistent with the idea that agricultural cooperatives enhance members’ efficiency by easing access to productive inputs and facilitating extension linkages. According to the findings, increased participation in agricultural cooperatives should further enhance efficiency gains among smallholder farmers.     

Risk aversion,cooperative membership,and path dependences of smallholder farmers in Ethiopia

Smallholder farmers in Sub‐Saharan Africa often mitigate production risks through cooperative membership: institutionalized arrangements where they pool resources and collectively manage production and marketing chains. Cooperative membership has a significant advantage: it cushions detrimental effects of external forces, placing a premium on a risk‐seeking attitude (experimenting and innovating), which can yield greater accumulation. However, cooperatives are self‐selective institutions: relatively better‐endowed farmers, who are usually less risk‐avoidant than poorer ones (a consequence of their broader material bases), tend to be overrepresented. These two realities complicate the causal assessment of the relationships between risk attitudes, farmers’ socioeconomic status, and cooperative membership that is essential to comprehend the role of cooperatives in local capital accumulation. To help resolve this thorny analytical problem, an experimental study was carried out in eastern Ethiopia—a risky production environment where cooperatives feature prominently and relatively affluent farmers exist alongside poorer ones. It unveils the working of specific path dependences: poorer cooperative members are less risk seeking than nonmembers, but at an interval much less than that observed for affluent farmers. For development policies, this suggests that a greater payoff can be expected from investing in farmers’ material bases than from further improving cooperative membership.     

EFFICIENCY AND SURVIVAL: THE IMPACT OF THE INTERNATIONAL COFFEE AGREEMENT'S DEMISE ON COSTA RICA'S COOPERATIVE COFFEE PROCESSING, 1988–2005

ABSTRACT ** :  This paper uses a profit per member (or dividend) frontier model to analyze the impact of the 1989 demise of the International Coffee Agreement on a group of Costa Rican coffee processing cooperatives. Firm-level data on costs span the period from 1988/89 to 1992/93 and information on cooperative survival covers 1988/89 to 2004/05. The more efficient member-owned enterprises survived the crisis. An increasing cost of servicing the smallest farmers may constitute an incentive to restrict membership, however. Dividends fall as investor-owned firms compete to buy farmers' raw coffee. Still, member loyalty does enable cooperative processors to maintain scale economies and market share. Despite several bankruptcies, cooperative firms in Costa Rica processed 40 percent of the national crop in 2004/05, the same proportion as in 1988/89.     

Which type of producer organization is (more) inclusive? Dynamics of farmers’ membership and participation in the decision‐making process

Producer organizations (POs) provide benefits to smallholders by alleviating market access challenges. However, whether all farmers benefit from a PO is still a question. Limited evidence is available on whether POs are inclusive of poor farmers. Even if the poor join, do they participate in decision‐making? We conducted interviews with 595 smallholder dairy farmers in Kenya. We distinguish three groups; members of a bargaining PO, members of a processing PO and non‐members. We show that membership is related to the structural characteristics of the organization: processing POs favor membership of farmers that are wealthier, more educated and more innovative. As to participation in the decision‐making process: older, male and specialized farmers have a higher chance of being involved than poor farmers. Factors distinguishing farmer participation in decision‐making between bargaining and processing POs are highlighted. We find that a bargaining PO is more inclusive of all groups of farmers, while women and poor farmers are excluded from decision‐making in a processing PO. Our findings contribute to policymaking on inclusive development.     

核心企业伦理型领导与合作创新绩效

创新网络是企业获得外部关键性创新资源、提升竞争优势的有效平台。核心企业伦理型领导风格是影响合作创新的重要因素,探究其对合作创新绩效的影响机理具有重要意义。以社会学习、角色认知、社会交换、嵌入性等理论为基础,将心理距离纳入核心企业伦理型领导与合作创新绩效关系模型中,使用逐步回归分析法对381份有效样本进行实证分析。研究发现：道德公平、角色界定、权力分享分别对关系稳定型、合作满意型、创新能力提升型合作创新绩效有正向影响;心理距离对道德公平、角色界定与合作创新绩效的关系具有显著调节作用,但是对权力分享与合作创新绩效关系的调节作用不显著。该作用机制研究为提升合作创新绩效提供了新路径,对企业与外部组织开展合作创新活动具有重要启示。     

管理层薪酬、持股结构与企业成长——来自PE支持企业的数据

在传统的融资路径下,中小科技型企业很难获得资金支持。私募股权投资基金的兴起,有力地支持了中小科技型企业的发展,同时私募股权投资基金也获得了良好的回报。本文通过对69家中小板私募股权投资基金支持企业的实证研究发现,管理层获酬率、平均薪酬、持股率与平均持股对企业成长拉动性并不强,而管理层获酬方差和持股方差对企业成长具有正相关关系,符合锦标赛效应。     

Does agricultural cooperative membership influence off-farm work decisions of farm couples?

Membership in agricultural cooperatives may influence intra-household decisions regarding the division of household labor. However, the linkages between cooperative membership and labor allocation remain unexplored. To fill this gap, we examine the impact of cooperative membership on off-farm work decisions of couples engaged in farming, using data collected from 595 banana farmers in China. The recursive bivariate probit model and endogenous-treatment Poisson regression model are employed to address the self-selection bias inherent in cooperative membership. The results show that cooperative membership increases the probability of participating in off-farm work by 38% for husbands and 31% for wives. Having large households reduces the probability of husbands but increases that of wives working off-farm. Cooperative membership is also associated with more time spent on off-farm work and higher earnings for both husbands and wives. Our findings point to the potential of agricultural cooperatives to increase farm couples’ off-farm employment, thus increasing household income and quality of life.     

The Logic of Membership of Sectoral Business Associations

This paper assesses the logic of membership of sectoral business associations in Britain using evidence from a proportionate stratified random sample of associations. The British system gives no statuatory status to business associations. As a result the size and fragmentation of associations is similar to the US, membership of associations is interpreted in terms of the logic of specific business service demand and the logic of collective activities. Expectations from models of collective action, associability and involvement are used to interpret association membership. The paper argues that the normal distinction between associations as trade, professional or "peak" bodies is too simplistic in not properly differentiating the types of member. The paper employs instead a set of six categories dependent on the type of members: companies, owner-managers, the self-employed, and individuals, as well as bodies with mixed membership, and federations (which are associations of associations). Survey evidence demonstrates that member motives for joining, lapsing and constraining service development differ significantly between association types and tend most strongly to emphasise the logic of individual services as complements to the logic collective activity. Analysis of the rates of joining and lapsing membership show evidence of reluctance to join and high rates of lapsing.     

REACHING THE RURAL POOR THROUGH AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES IN MONGOLIA

This paper focuses on the cooperative sector in central Mongolia. Its aim is to provide new insights into the role and importance of cooperatives among poor rural populations. We analyse cooperatives’ inclusiveness of smaller herders and farmers and cooperatives’ governance structures. The research is based on data collected in selected provinces of the central Töv region. The data were collected for three distinctive target groups – cooperative board members, cooperative members and non‐members. We found that the cooperative sector in Mongolia is strongly affected by the governmental policy regarding wool subsidies, which provides subsidies only to cooperative members and has consequently caused rapid growth in the number of new, free‐riding cooperative members and led to very low levels of members’ self‐identification with their cooperatives. This policy also affects the inner organizational structures of cooperatives. Further, we found indications that poorer farmers tend not to be members of cooperatives and that the overall benefits for non‐members and the general community arising from local cooperatives are rather low.     

国有股权参股对家族企业创新效率影响机制与路径研究

在混合所有制改革和创新驱动发展战略实施背景下,国有资本“举牌”民营企业对企业创新体系的作用机制亟待研究。基于2008-2018年上市家族企业数据,从创新投入和创新产出两个视角探讨国有股权参股对家族企业创新效率的影响,根据股东资源理论分析可能的影响路径。通过Heckman两阶段模型实证发现：国有股权参股显著促进家族企业创新投入和创新产出,并最终对创新效率产生积极影响,而获取政府补贴和提升创新管理能力是两条中介路径。该结论揭示了混合所有制改革在激发民营企业创新活力中所发挥的重要作用和影响机制,为家族企业提高创新效率提供了新方向。     

我国农民专业合作社国内研究文献综述

在梳理近几年尤其是2007年以后我国农民专业合作社国内相关研究文献的基础上,本文对目前我国农民专业合作研究状况进行了归纳和总结,认为我国农民专业合作社研究视角上从合作社本质、功能等一般理论研究逐步转向我国合作社治理结构、合作社运行绩效、农户合作意愿等的实证研究,更加强调合作社研究的现实意义;在研究方法上,从以理论分析为主的定性研究方法逐步转向问卷调查、因子分析、回归分析、机构方程模型等定量研究方法,整体学术研究水平不断提升。论文最后对我国农民专业合作社研究状况做了简单评价,认为农民专业合作金融问题、农民合作社与政府关系问题、农民专业合作联社问题以及农民专业合作社的股份化和企业化倾向问题需要进一步加紧研究,以解决我国农民专业合作社发展的现实问题。     

COLLECTIVE ACTION AND ASPIRATIONS: THE IMPACT OF COOPERATIVES ON ETHIOPIAN COFFEE FARMERS’ ASPIRATIONS

Aspirations motivate behaviours, serve to mobilize and direct energy into actions, and are regarded as important determinants of success. Given the importance of aspirations and their formation in social interaction, the objective of this article is to evaluate if cooperative membership can have effects on members' aspiration levels. Face‐to‐face interviews were conducted with 305 Ethiopian coffee farmers on their aspired levels in five dimensions of their lives. Results, using a propensity score matching technique, show that membership in cooperatives significantly improves the aspiration levels of the members. The article emphasizes the utilization of this hidden but important benefit of cooperatives.     

DRIVERS OF PRO‐ACTIVE MEMBER PARTICIPATION IN AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES: EVIDENCE FROM BRAZIL

Effective governance of cooperatives depends on the pro‐active participation of members in the governance. However, it is commonly argued that, especially in cooperatives with high heterogeneity of membership, additional decision‐making and influencing costs could emerge if members who participate in the governance do so to obtain direct or indirect economic benefits at the individual farm level. The objective of this paper is to assess whether or not farmers’ economic motivations for continued association are relevant drivers of pro‐active participation. Data originate from 148 farmers from a large agricultural cooperative in Brazil. The results suggest that economic motivations for continued association are drivers of participation in the General Assembly, but not of ‘pro‐active’ participation in boards and committees.     

The impact of mechanized processing of cassava on farmers’ production efficiency in Uganda

The study investigates the impact of adopting mechanized processing of cassava on farmers’ production efficiency in Uganda. A stochastic production function, using translog functional form, was used to compare efficiency measures of farmers in mechanized cassava-processing villages compared with the farmers in nonmechanized cassava-processing villages in 2014. Given the specification of the translog production function, the mean technical efficiencies of the farmers were 0.69 and 0.52 in mechanized and nonmechanized villages, respectively. The significant determinants of technical inefficiency among the respondents are farming experience, education, membership of farmer association, access to markets, sale of cassava to processors and farmers who planted cassava as sole crop are all negative, which confirm to a priori expectations and significant at different levels. The policy implication of the study is that mechanization of cassava processing, particularly if done at the right scale, could create demand that can transform primary production for increased yields, higher incomes and production efficiency of smallholder farmers who constitute a significant proportion of Uganda’s agricultural sector.     

农民参加新型农村合作医疗的影响因素及满意度分析——基于安徽省13县368个农户调查的实证研究

笔者采用问卷调查的方式,对农民参加新型农村合作医疗的影响因素以及参合人员对新农合的满意度进行了实证分析。分析结果表明,人均收入、家庭规模和性别与农民的参合意愿没有显著的相关性,而文化程度、家庭成员构成、家庭成员的健康状况、农民参合的缴费水平以及新农合的名义报销水平等与农民的参合意愿显著相关。参合农民对新农合满意评价较为集中和稳定,但仍然存在医疗卫生服务机构在技术、收费、态度等方面不能满足农民需求的问题。