The Pro-Poorness of Farmers'Cooperatives and an Empirical Examination
The pro-poor nature of cooperatives is one of the main reasons for them to receive policy preferences.However,the theoretical analysis suggests that cooperatives are not necessarily pro-poor because they tend to exclude smallholder farmers in the pursuit of efficiency,and thus they need to be"open"to ensure their pro-poorness.Our empirical studies based on the practice of cooperatives in China show that most cooperatives in China benefit only their core members;and it is easier for large farmer households to join together;Additionally,policy support usually goes to a few cooperatives whose chairmen are already relatively wealthy and own more political social capital.In brief,most cooperatives in China do not achieve pro-poor outcomes.Further investigation reveals that the main reason for the failure of our cooperatives to become pro-poor is that the vast majority of them are actually not cooperatives proper,which makes their pro-poorness unrealistic,while existing policies on material support failed to guide cooperatives to play a pro-poor role.To achieve the pro-poorness of cooperatives,support policies need to be shifted from material support to institutional building.
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