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Tibet Agriculture and Animal Husbandry University, Nyingchi 860000, China

1 Introduction

In the context of the "Belt and Road" Initiative, Tibet is the only region in China, where continuous poverty occurs, but with the in-depth development of precision poverty alleviation in Tibet, the support and assistance policies from the state and other provinces and cities for Tibet have enabled Tibet’s various undertakings to develop by leaps and bounds. The per capita disposable income of farmers and herdsmen in Tibet has increased by as much as 16 percent, and the poverty eradication rate in agricultural and pastoral areas has steadily increased. Farmers’ specialized organizations play a more and more important role, which can not only improve the level of local agricultural production and the degree of organization of farmers and herdsmen entering the market, but also benefit the industrialization of farming and animal husbandry and the structural adjustment of farming and animal husbandry[2]. Yang Benfeng and Ren Kai (2014) point out that the conservative concept of farmers and herdsmen, and low scientific and cultural quality, can be ascribed to the effect of traditional feudal ideology for a long time, farmers and herdsmen have formed a closed, conservative small farmer and herdsman market consciousness, and the sense of cooperation is not strong. The association between members or the relationship between members and organizations, is loose and not close, with weak cohesion force[4]. Liu Guangmo (2014), Fu Chen (2004) point out that it should be established by multiple entities and developed in various forms. In terms of establishment by multiple entities, we should establish the organizations according to the combination of supply and marketing cooperatives in the districts, townships and villages, and guide the members of farmers and herdsmen to set up the organizations in cooperation, especially take advantage of the leading role of capable people and encourage the social capable people who have sales channels and have strong economic strength to set up the organizations in cooperation with farmers and herdsmen. We should establish a cooperative relationship with the backbone enterprises, and establish a road to industrialization of the specialized economy of farmers and herdsmen, which is called "enterprise + specialized cooperative economic organization + rural households (bases)"[10]. In order to establish cooperative economic organizations with various industrial models according to the practical needs of farmers and herdsmen, it is necessary to establish the loose but compact specialized cooperative economic organizations with common economic interests. There is a need to develop production or services, provide free services to farmers and herdsmen, promote the development of total sales, and develop specialized economic cooperation organizations that integrate production, processing and marketing[3]. Xu Wuda and Yang Yabo (2013) analyze in detail the achievements of the rural economy in Tibet since the peaceful liberation of Tibet 60 years ago, and point out that the multi-level changes of the basic rural operation system, the evolution of the rural industrial structure and the continuous progress of agricultural science and technology, are the main forces for promoting the development of Tibet’s agriculture[9]. Under the new historical conditions, the sustainable development of Tibet’s rural economy can be achieved through the improvement of the basic rural operation system, the promotion of agricultural industrialization, the provision of financial support for rural development, the transfer of surplus rural labor, and the promotion of agricultural science and technology[7]. Nagqu area is mainly dominated by animal husbandry, but there is is still rare literature on increasing income of the northern Tibetan farmers and herdsmen through the establishment of agricultural cooperatives.

2 Analysisofthecurrentsituationoffarmers’ andherdsmen’seconomiccooperativesinNagquarea

2.1LocationoverviewNagqu area, with an average altitude of more than 4 500 meters, is located in the northern Tibet Autonomous Region, and it is the source of the Yangtze River, the Nu River, the Lhasa River, the Yigong River and other major rivers. Qinghai-Tibet Highway and Qinghai-Tibet Railway cross the region. It has a total area of 450 537 km2, and administers ten counties and one special area. As of 2010, the total population of the region was 462 382. Except for a small number of semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral areas in the eastern part of (cultivated land area of about 5 333 ha), Nagqu is basically a pure pastoral area, with a grassland area of more than 33 333 333 ha, of which 25 333 333 ha can be used.

2.2CurrentsituationofagriculturalcooperativesTo date, there are 259 farmers’ and herdsmen’s economic cooperation organizations of all sizes in the Nagqu region, of which more than 100 are registered, and 29 are in the process of applying for registration, involving 17 837 farmers and herdsmen, and 7 340 rural and pastoral households. The specialized cooperative economic organizations of farmers and herdsmen cover the fields of animal products processing, sale, transportation and characteristic building materials, and the fixed assets amount to 148 million yuan. The per capita income of farmers and herdsmen who participate in cooperative economic organizations is 2 573.6 yuan higher than that of those who do not participate in cooperative economic organizations[15]. At present, the main types of cooperatives in the Nagqu region of Tibet are as follows[5]:

2.2.1Joint stock cooperatives. There are a total of 160 such cooperatives, in which the factors of production such as pasture, yak, fresh milk, dairy products, animal products and labor techniques are converted into shares, and the cooperatives are jointly operated and run with democratic management and risk-sharing, and the benefits are distributed according to shares. For example, the milk residue, wild onion processing and marketing cooperative in Nazong Village (Xiaguo township, Shenza County), involves a total of 45 households, 244 people[1].

2.2.2Major households-driven cooperatives. There are 78 such cooperatives which are set up by major breeding households, major transport and marketing households, farmer and herdsman brokers, and other capable people. In 2007, the herdsman in Luoma Town of Nagqu County, Bunuobu, invested 200 000 yuan in the establishment of farmers’ and herdsmen’s specialized cooperative. So far, the scope of business has been from the dairy processing, sales, to cattle and sheep breeding base, gravel plants, resorts and other business projects. The cooperative has grown from 2 households, 47 people in the early days to 367 households, 1 789 people now, bringing more than 70 herdsmen in Xiangmao and Nameqie townships in Nagqu County to increase their income[13].

2.2.3Jointly established cooperatives. Such cooperatives are organized jointly across regions to resolve disputes arising from the inter-regional nature of pastures, resolve social contradictions and promote the income of herdsmen. There are five such cooperatives. In order to solve the disputes and conflicts between the two villages, Er Village (Maqian Township, Bange County) and Yi Village (Baling Township, Shuanghu District) built a bridge to get rich by jointly setting up a trans-regional cooperative. In 2007, Bange Shuanghu Agricultural Cooperative was established, bringing together 26 rural and pastoral households from two villages, with 138 members and 6 357 livestock.

2.3ThemodeofoperationofagriculturalcooperativesinNagquThe survey was conducted on 28 villages in Seqing Township of Nie Rong County, and the agricultural cooperation of Payu Village is used as an example to illustrate. The village has 20 households, 83 people, 391 cattle, more than 1 800 ha of grazing land. The village from production to sales implements the division of labor. At present, about 30 villagers are engaged in dairy processing in processing rooms, and 52 in off-season grazing. The rest are responsible for grazing (including grazing cattle, sheep, milking, collecting cow dung,etc.) or for participating in the construction of the village. There are also people who specialize in logistics (also cleaning,etc.), currently three people. The cooperative has a corresponding organizational mechanism, with managers, accountants, secretaries-general, supervisors, custodians, and a special board of directors. Payu Village has a holiday village in Nie Rong County, and there are sales points in Nagqu and Lhasa. The sales staff in Nie Rong and Nagqu are villagers in this village, and the sales point in Lhasa is Nie Rong’s office. "Nie Pai", the registered brand of Paiyu Village, is a famous brand in Nie Rong County. Its products are in short supply and the raw materials are limited, but the raw materials are 100% self-produced, which can ensure its purity. The village hopes to further expand sales, such as cooperation with the supermarket in Nagqu. The 16-55-year-old villagers are engaged in the production of the cooperative, all of whom work in accordance with the type of work and get dividends twice a year. 12% of the dividends are retained as collective remaining assets for medical insurance, academic support, and so on. For the villagers involved in the production, regardless of the type of work, regardless of the amount of labor, each male is required to pay 3 500 yuan per year, while the female is required to pay 2 500 yuan. If they refuse to pay, they’ll be fined 400 yuan; if they can not pay completely, it will be deducted from their work point; if the deducted work point is still insufficient to pay, the work point of other family members will be deducted, so as to enhance the villagers’ production consciousness. It is necessary to give the reward to the particularly competent villagers as the case may be. In the village, cattle and sheep are uniformly slaughtered, one-third for villagers to eat and two-thirds for sale. The village property belongs to the collective, but the villagers have to give compensation for the damage in the property, in order to protect the collective property, so as to produce the cherishing consciousness of villagers on the property[6].

2.4NecessityofdevelopmentofagriculturalcooperativesinNagquregionThe specialized cooperative economic organization of farmers and herdsmen is the latest practice result of farmers and herdsmen in Nagqu area. It is a new type of cooperative economic organization developed by the local government in response to the policy of precision poverty alleviation. It effectively solves some problems for local farmers and herdsmen, such as lack of production technology, difficulty in selling agricultural and animal products, and great transaction risk in the market, and plays an important role in increasing the income of farmers and herdsmen and improving the level of agricultural industrialization[11].

2.4.1Having increased the degree of organization of farmers and herdsmen. Practice has proved that developing specialized cooperative economic organizations of farmers and herdsmen can organize scattered farmers with enterprises and markets, enhance the ability of farmers and herdsmen to resist market risks, and realize the effective connection between small farmers and large markets[8]. According to the survey, it is found that the farmers’ and herdsmen’s economic cooperation organizations in Nagqu region have played an important role in collecting market information, introducing new technology, organizing technical guidance and training, promoting standardized production and brand-based management, and doing a good job in purchasing and circulating agricultural and animal husbandry products. It has effectively reduced the market risk and realized the effective connection of single small farmers with the ever-changing large markets.

2.4.2Having reduced the cost of production and increased income for farmers and herdsmen. The farmers’ and herdsmen’s economic cooperation organizations, as the protector of farmers’ and herdsmen’s interests, reduce costs and increase the income of farmers and herdsmen through unified procurement, processing and sales.

2.4.3Having effectively solved the problem of rural surplus labor. In 2014, Nagqu had 440 000 farmers and herdsmen, accounting for 95.29 percent of the total population. Nearly one third of the rural labor force is under-employed. To solve the problem of surplus rural labor is not only the inevitable requirement of economic development and social stability, but also an important measure to promote the coordinated development of urban and rural economy and increase the income of farmers and herdsmen. The establishment of cooperative economic organizations of farmers and herdsmen can gradually solve the problem of surplus labor, and increase the income channels of farmers and herdsmen.

3 Problems

3.1Lackofnormsintheconstructionoffarmers’andherdsmen’scooperativesThe rules and regulations of the majority of cooperatives in Nagqu area are not sound and strict, and the cooperatives lack effective democratic supervision, and the level of democratic management is low. At the same time, the property right of the cooperative is not clear and the cooperative has not set up an account for the participating members, which can not well reflect the benefit share enjoyed by the members in the cooperative, making the members dare not to transfer the property right to the cooperative and thus making it impossible to reflect the requirement of "benefit sharing and risk sharing". At the same time, the benefit connection between cooperatives and members is not close, and the surplus distribution mechanism is not perfect, which makes the surplus distribution of cooperatives lack basis, with great randomness, which has a great influence on the development and growth of cooperatives.

3.2WeakproductionandoperationcapacityandlowlevelofdevelopmentofcooperativesThe cooperative’s products lack unified management, and the vast majority of cooperatives do not have a standard production system, resulting in different types and different quality of products produced by members of cooperatives, which makes it impossible to carry out unified management and operation. At the same time, because of lack of funds and low processing and marketing ability, cooperatives do not cooperate effectively with leading enterprises, wholesale markets, large supermarkets,etc. They cannot help their members to process and sell products, extend the industrial chain and increase the added value of products. Cooperatives have low operational efficiency, low level of service to their members and long-term low level of development[14].

4 Recommendations

4.1StrengtheningpublicityandeducationThe survey found that many farmers and herdsmen in the Nagqu area do not know about the specialized cooperation organization, let alone join the organization. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the publicity and education for farmers and herdsmen, so that more farmers and herdsmen understand cooperatives, and realize that cooperatives can bring greater economic benefits to themselves. In many places, farmers and herdsmen have a low level of knowledge and culture, and still produce and live in old ideas and old ways, and are self-sufficient. Take the family as the unit, they adopt the traditional farming and animal husbandry way. First of all, we should strengthen the education and training of government officials, and enhance the ability of government officials to guide the development of farmers’ and herdsmen’s cooperative economic organizations. Secondly, the relevant government departments can organize training regularly to publicize the laws, preferential policies and measures formulated by the state to the farmers and herdsmen, so that the farmers and herdsmen can feel the support of the state to the specialized cooperatives. It is necessary to remove the worries of the farmers and herdsmen, carry out the education of cooperation ideas, cooperation concepts and cooperation principles, and enhance the farmers’ and herdsmen’s sense of cooperation and democratic participation. Thirdly, it is necessary to organize the farmers and herdsmen to visit the areas where the cooperation organization is better, and carry out the experience exchange forum and so on to urge the farmers and herdsmen to change the idea and raise the understanding and participate in the specialized cooperation organization actively[12].

4.2IncreasingpolicyandfinancialsupportIt is essential for the government to support the specialized cooperatives of herdsmen, but the relationship between the two should be dealt with well in the process of support. Proceeding from the actual situation of pastoral areas, it is necessary to lower the threshold of loans through government coordination, increase the strength of financial services to give credit concessions, provide multi-channel financial support and financial services, and help herdsmen specialized cooperatives to solve financial difficulties. The loans for them should be continuously increased by providing interest rate concessions, easing deadlines, simplifying procedures and adapting flexible and diverse forms of security. According to the actual situation and different grades, the local governments should provide financial support through low-interest, low-interest or interest-free loans for the development of specialized cooperatives of herdsmen. The rural credit cooperatives and commercial banks should add qualified herdsmen’s specialized cooperatives to the scope of priority support by lowering the guarantee requirements. There is a need to simplify the credit procedures and use other ways to relax the terms of loans, while regularly providing a certain amount of capital to support farmers’ specialized cooperatives to purchase agricultural machinery, and construct production bases[16].

4.3CultivatinganddevelopingtheleadingenterprisesIt is necessary to cultivate and develop the leading enterprises, and grasp the core of industrialization of agriculture and animal husbandry. Leading enterprises are the core of industrialization of farmers and herdsmen, only by grasping this leader can the industrialization process of agriculture and animal husbandry be accelerated. Therefore, we must support and develop leading enterprises and put it as the first task to promote the industrialization of agriculture and animal husbandry[12]. There is a need to strengthen cooperation with leading enterprises and enhance the vitality of cooperative organizations of farmers and herdsmen. The government should encourage and guide the leading enterprises and farmers’ and herdsmen’s cooperative organizations to establish the protection price system, the management contract system, the risk fund system and so on under the voluntary premise, in order to restrict the behavior of all parties. We should encourage and guide leading enterprises, farmers’ and herdsmen’s cooperative organizations to establish a stable purchasing and selling relationship and benefit distribution mechanism through joint-stock reform. It is necessary to encourage and guide the leading enterprises to join the specialized cooperative organizations of farmers and herdsmen as group members. The specialized cooperative organizations of farmers and herdsmen can play their own service functions to provide direct services for individual members, thereby enhancing the attraction of the specialized cooperative organizations of farmers and herdsmen and achieving a win-win situation[17].

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