How to broaden the financing channels of farmers' professional cooperatives

In recent years, farmers' professional cooperatives have become an effective carrier of rural economic development in our city, and farmers' professional cooperatives have shown certain strength in leading farmers to get rich together. At present, it is a critical period for the development of farmers' professional cooperatives in China. However, it is found through investigation that the financing of farmers' professional cooperatives in our city is mainly based on the equity financing of cooperative members, supplemented by government funds and loans from financial institutions. How to broaden the financing channels of farmers' professional cooperatives and realize their sustained, stable and rapid development has become an urgent task in the research of farmers' professional cooperatives.

First, the current situation of financing difficulties of farmers' professional cooperatives in our city

1. The start-up funds of farmers' professional cooperatives are seriously insufficient. Farmers' professional cooperative is a new type of economic organization that has just emerged from the individual contract mode. Its vitality is very fragile, and there is still a long way to go to become bigger and stronger. The root cause is a serious shortage of funds. The earliest financial support of farmers' professional cooperatives comes from membership fees and shares paid by members. Any member must pay this fee, although the amount is not large, but it is the earliest financial support of the cooperative economic organization. In addition to membership fees and share capital, many farmers' professional cooperatives raise funds through the provident fund system and dividend surplus in the process of development in order to make up for the lack of funds. Although these methods have partially solved the problem of insufficient funds for farmers' professional cooperatives, they are far from meeting their demand for funds.

2. Lack of rural financial institutions and single financing channels. For a long time, after the state-owned banks contracted their branches, the rural financial system nominally formed three pillars: Agricultural Bank of China, Agricultural Development Bank and Rural Credit Cooperatives, which was not worthy of the name. At present, the service targets of ABC are basically some leading enterprises with good economic benefits, and the loans for agricultural infrastructure and development are decreasing year by year, while its sub-branches below the county level are basically shrinking. The Agricultural Development Bank is basically only responsible for some relatively large policy projects, and has also begun to pay attention to the financial situation and operating efficiency. Very cautious in funding, the policy function has begun to weaken. There is only one rural credit cooperative that really plays the role of supporting agriculture, and the rural credit cooperative that has been in reform has not played its role in supporting agriculture to the greatest extent because of its own operational difficulties. Although the proportion of agricultural loans in its total loans has been greatly improved, it is still less than 1/4, and the business outlets have not touched the rural grassroots. The Law on Farmers' Specialized Cooperatives stipulates that national policy financial institutions and commercial financial institutions should provide financial support for the development of farmers' specialized cooperatives in various forms. However, these provisions are relatively general, and the funding problem of farmers' professional cooperatives has not been fundamentally solved.

3. Difficulties in attracting investment. Farmers' professional cooperatives are farmers' organizations, and everything needs the consent of directors or members. The cost of decision-making is too high, and it is difficult for cooperatives to be relatively stable in terms of personnel. In addition, the Law on Farmers' Specialized Cooperatives only protects farmers' interests, which also prevents the injection of external funds, most of which are self-help and self-singing, which limits the extension and expansion of farmers' cooperatives. Therefore, many business owners will hesitate when they hear that they are cooperating with farmers' professional cooperatives.

4. Poor financing environment. The financing situation of farmers' professional cooperatives is not optimistic, mainly because of the poor financing environment. On the one hand, from the reality of the vast rural areas and farmers, most farmers have weak economic strength, which leads to their less capital investment in cooperatives and the cooperatives can not gather a large number of shares. The profitability of cooperatives is poor, and the funds obtained through the withdrawal of provident fund are limited. The existing management mechanism and surplus distribution mechanism are also difficult to attract investors. For many reasons, the internal financing space of farmers' professional cooperatives is very limited. On the other hand, farmers' professional cooperatives have weak economic foundation, poor ability to resist risks, no stable and sustained income, lack of suitable property mortgage, and financial institutions are reluctant to lend. Although the government gives tax incentives and financial support to farmers' professional cooperatives, the financial support is still limited.

Two, the main factors restricting the financial supply of farmers' professional cooperatives in our city

(1) The development of farmers' professional cooperatives lacks policy support, supervision and management and scientific development planning. The national and provincial governments respectively promulgated the Law on Farmers' Specialized Cooperatives in People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Regulations on Farmers' Specialized Cooperatives in Heilongjiang Province, which put forward supporting policies and management requirements for the development of farmers' specialized cooperatives from the aspects of finance, taxation and comprehensive services. However, in practice, most of these policies have no corresponding supporting rules or methods to guide their implementation, which leads to some measures becoming a mere formality. First, the relevant departments' information services and training services for farmers' professional cooperatives are not in place, and there is a blind spot for support. Second, there is a lack of effective supervision over the use of funds, equipment and facilities invested by the state in farmers' professional cooperatives. Third, the competent authorities did not grasp the development and changes of farmers' professional cooperatives in the province in time, and the production and operation information files of farmers' professional cooperatives were not perfect. Fourth, the relevant policy departments are fragmented, lacking effective communication, and it is difficult to form a joint force, which greatly reduces the service level of farmers' professional cooperatives.

(2) Farmers' professional cooperatives are not fully recognized by financial institutions. After the implementation of the Law on Farmers' Specialized Cooperatives, although the status of farmers' specialized cooperatives as market subjects and loan recipients has been confirmed by law, the top-down financial support policy for farmers' specialized cooperatives has not yet been introduced. At the same time, the governance structure of farmers' professional cooperatives is a non-corporate governance structure under the premise of democratic management. Banks cannot accurately judge whether to determine the loan amount and interest rate by the standards of agricultural enterprises or mutual aid organizations in loan approval, and there are obstacles in financial support. Some financial institutions support cooperatives, and most of them support individual farmers in disguise. It seems that all roads lead to the same goal, but the latter has limitations in loan amount, loan interest rate and loan term, which is far from meeting the development needs of farmers' professional cooperatives.

(3) The irregular operation of cooperatives restricts the initiative of financial services. First, the democratic management decision-making mechanism is a mere formality. Farmers' professional cooperatives are generally led by rural talents, leading enterprises, grassroots organizations, grassroots service departments and brokers. In practice, they generally show the characteristics of loose interest relations. Important matters of cooperatives are often decided by sponsors or large households, and ordinary farmers are mostly affiliated and rarely participate in democratic decision-making. Second, the benefit distribution mechanism is not perfect. According to the survey, the distribution of benefits between farmers' professional cooperatives and their members is mainly based on the transaction volume between members and cooperatives. The proportion of cooperatives that can establish a secondary distribution mechanism is very small, and most of them are mainly engaged in technical services, information services, and procurement of means of production. Short industrial chain, low degree of marketization and weak profitability. Third, it is difficult to identify the authenticity of the establishment and operation of cooperatives. In the investigation, it is found that some cooperatives in our city have only made great efforts to win state subsidy funds since their establishment, but have no real business activities. These factors seriously restrict the initiative of credit support of financial institutions.

(d) The lack of effective mortgage guarantee makes it difficult for financial institutions to issue loans. Financial institutions usually need collateral for lending, while farmers' professional cooperatives are in the initial stage, with small scale, few fixed assets and lack of mortgage assets. According to the survey, 80% of farmers' professional cooperatives have no fixed assets, and their own assets, such as agricultural production equipment, rural collective real estate and land contractual management rights, are difficult to be used as effective collateral, which makes it more difficult for cooperatives to obtain bank loans.

(E) The rural financial service system is not perfect. First, policy-oriented financial institutions did not play their due role and did not provide credit support specifically for farmers' professional cooperatives. The distribution of commercial financial institutions in rural areas is limited, and their support ability and willingness are insufficient. Rural cooperative finance is still in its infancy, and it is difficult to play a major role in meeting the capital needs of farmers' professional cooperatives. Second, the development of the guarantee system lags behind. Although the Regulations on Farmers' Professional Cooperatives in Heilongjiang Province stipulates that "people's governments at or above the county level may set up guarantee institutions to provide loan services for farmers' professional cooperatives", there is no guarantee company serving farmers' professional cooperatives in Heilongjiang Province at present. As a new type of rural economic organization, cooperative is difficult to meet the guarantee conditions of other guarantee companies and is in a dilemma of seeking insurance. The third is the lack of agricultural insurance. At present, policy-based agricultural insurance only covers limited planting and aquaculture, and there is still no intervention in the risk sharing of cooperatives in technical services and other fields, such as agricultural machinery professional cooperatives, while commercial insurance is difficult to popularize in rural areas because of its high fees. Fourth, private financing has been suppressed. With the development of rural economy, underground banks, mutual funds, private equity funds, venture capital funds, pawn shops and other private finance have appeared in many areas. However, due to policy restrictions, the development of private finance has not been protected by law for a long time and is not subject to legal supervision, which makes the development of private finance slow.

Three. Suggestions on broadening the financing channels of farmers' professional cooperatives

(1) Increase policy support and accelerate the development of farmers' professional cooperatives. The first is to set up a special support fund for farmers' professional cooperatives. It is suggested that governments at all levels allocate funds to support farmers' professional cooperatives to carry out services such as agricultural product training, quality standards and certification, agricultural production infrastructure construction, marketing and technology promotion. Second, agriculture-related management departments give priority support in project arrangement. The state supports the construction projects of developing agriculture and rural economy, and can give priority to entrusting and arranging qualified farmers' professional cooperatives to implement them. The third is to implement preferential tax policies for farmers' professional cooperatives. It is necessary to further clarify the preferential tax policies granted by the state to agricultural production, processing, circulation, services and other agricultural economic activities, and strictly implement them to ensure that farmers' professional cooperatives enjoy the corresponding preferential tax policies. The fourth is to deepen the comprehensive service work of farmers' professional cooperatives. All levels of agriculture, forestry, water conservancy, animal husbandry and veterinary departments, agricultural machinery management institutions, supply and marketing cooperatives, science and technology associations and other organizations should regularly (at least twice a year) organize leaders and members of farmers' professional cooperatives to receive training on relevant industrial policies, legal knowledge, production technology and management knowledge, and help farmers' professional cooperatives develop healthily in the direction of standardization and marketization. Fifth, the People's Bank of China should formulate policies to increase support for farmers' professional cooperatives. In the application of policies such as credit scale and re-lending to support agriculture, agricultural financial institutions tilt to support farmers' professional cooperatives. Actively encourage local governments to invest in the establishment of loan guarantee funds or risk compensation funds for farmers' professional cooperatives, give financial incentives, tax relief and other forms of support policies to rural cooperative financial institutions that have achieved remarkable results in providing financial services for farmers' professional cooperatives, and guide them to continuously increase credit supply to farmers' professional cooperatives and continuously improve financial services. The banking supervision department shall, jointly with the agricultural department, strengthen the follow-up evaluation of the financial services of farmers' professional cooperatives, closely follow the progress of innovation in related financial products and service methods, earnestly strengthen policy guidance, support the promotion of useful experiences, continuously enlarge the innovation achievements, and improve the financial service level of farmers' professional cooperatives on a larger scale and at a higher level. It is necessary to promote the legal operation of private funds in a standardized and orderly manner, establish some private guarantee companies facing the rural financial market, and curb illegal underground banks.

(two) to speed up the formulation and improvement of the city's financial support for farmers' professional cooperatives guidance, overall planning of all-round financial support measures. In order to further promote the healthy and rapid development of farmers' professional cooperative organizations in our city, in the next step, we will formulate the guiding opinions of financial support for the development of farmers' professional cooperatives in our city as soon as possible on the basis of actual and in-depth investigation, and plan the direction and measures of financial support from a global perspective. Fully tap the advantages and functions of banks, securities, insurance, guarantees and other financial institutions, and form a joint force of financial support for the development of farmers' professional cooperatives in our city. Relevant detailed rules are issued around the important links and objectives of expanding the effective collateral scope of farmers' professional cooperatives and member farmers, supporting the financial innovation of farmers' professional cooperatives, and broadening the financing channels of farmers' professional cooperatives, so as to promote the smooth development of various financial support work in a planned and step-by-step manner.

(3) Deepen the innovation of rural financial products and services and enrich the financing means of farmers' professional cooperatives. It is suggested that the government and relevant departments should establish an incentive or subsidy mechanism for financial institutions to support farmers' professional cooperatives, encourage financial institutions to further strengthen the concept of credit innovation, include farmers' professional cooperatives in the scope of credit, and formulate the credit rating standards and methods of farmers' professional cooperatives as soon as possible by giving financial institutions discount on loans, reducing business tax, and giving financial incentives to financial institutions with large business volume. Strengthen the construction of rural credit environment. Farmers' professional cooperatives should all be included in the scope of rural credit evaluation, establish credit files of members, record and supervise the credit status of members, and increase support for members with good credit status. Guide financial institutions to actively carry out the innovation of loan mortgage guarantee methods, and try to support cooperative production and operation with assets such as land, forest land, water beach use rights and contractual management rights, income rights with stable cash flow, accounts receivable, corporate brands and so on.

(4) Give full play to the functions and roles of policy banks and give priority to supporting the development of rural cooperative economy. Article 5 1 of the Law on Farmers' Specialized Cooperatives stipulates: "National policy financial institutions shall take various forms to provide multi-channel financial support for farmers' specialized cooperatives". As a policy-oriented financial institution, the Agricultural Development Bank should strive to implement and cooperate with the development policies of agriculture, rural areas and farmers in our city, strengthen information communication and work cooperation with the competent departments of farmers' professional cooperatives, and continuously deepen financial services to farmers' professional cooperatives. We can focus on supporting farmers' professional cooperatives in the form of "farmers (members)+leading enterprises+cooperatives", and give full play to their radiation and driving role by supporting leading agricultural enterprises or cooperatives driven by leading enterprises.

(5) Establish and improve the guarantee system and agricultural insurance system, and improve the enthusiasm of financial institutions to support cooperatives. First, promote the establishment of agricultural credit guarantee companies. It is suggested that the local finance of cities and counties should be the main contribution, supplemented by the appropriate support of provincial finance (the proportion of provincial finance contribution can be around 30%), and social capital should be widely absorbed to participate in the establishment of agricultural credit guarantee companies, mainly to provide loan guarantee business for farmers' professional cooperatives. The second is to speed up the development of agricultural insurance. The departments of agriculture, finance and insurance should intensify their research on the development plan of agricultural insurance in Qiqihar during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan period, introduce corresponding measures, gradually improve and perfect the policy-based agricultural insurance system, guide commercial insurance companies to offer agricultural insurance, strive to expand the types and coverage of agricultural insurance, explore the development of various forms of rural credit in which banks and insurance participate, and continuously enhance the anti-risk ability of farmers' professional cooperatives. The third is private financing. The so-called private financing refers to the financial behavior of temporarily changing the ownership of funds by means of private lending, private bill financing, private securities financing and social fund-raising for the purpose of obtaining high interest and obtaining the right to use funds and paying agreed interest. The fourth is joint-stock cooperative financing. Farmers can raise funds to set up enterprises or carry out comprehensive development on a voluntary basis, and they can gather a large amount of funds to achieve investment goals in a short time. Joint-stock cooperative financing is a potential financing method, which has wide adaptability and is easily accepted by all parties, especially farmers. It is a good form to organize scattered social funds and give full play to the advantages of centralized funds.

(6) Accelerate the reform of rural land circulation system. First, the establishment of rural land contract transfer service center, rural land transfer from the past "personal behavior" to government guidance; Second, the "Measures for the Administration of the Transfer of the Right to Use Collective Construction Land" was promulgated, stipulating that collective construction land can enter the market for public sale, and homestead can also be transferred by means of house arrangement and lease under certain conditions. The third is to set up a guarantee company, with land contractual management right and forest right transfer as the guarantee, various rural ownership certificates as the pledge financing guarantee, and homestead, farmhouse and new housing projects as the mortgage financing guarantee. Fourth, the state and local governments will introduce relevant measures as soon as possible, set up land banks in qualified counties, and standardize the large-scale operation of rural land.