A case study of Ruoheng farmer watermelon cooperative in China

Collective actions of small farm households in big markets: A case study of Ruoheng farmer watermelon cooperative in China

By Huang Zuhui, Liang Qiao, and Song Yu, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD), Zhejiang University, China. 30 June 2006

ABSTRACT

With the economy globalization and trade liberalization of produce, all the countries take positive measures to adapt to the national and international environment. In developing countries where agriculture is relatively lagging behind and farm households are generally small, small farm households have to face the challenges in big markets. It is not only a main restriction of the development of rural economy but also a key factor influencing the equilibrium and stabilization of social development. In such background, small farm households have to make innovation on various systems such as organization system, marketing system, and distribution system.

In the world trading system, China is a large country of both production and consumption. She is easily impacted by international market and has big influences on the international market at the same time. As a country with a large agricultural population and lagged development in rural areas, China has very serious agricultural problems. Now produce system in China is in a phase of chaos and importance and presents a characteristic of diversification. Various forms of institution innovation are caused by seduced and compulsory stimulations. The innovations enrich rural markets and supply chain of produce. Farmer cooperative is a theoretically and practically feasible institution innovation derived from such an environment. It is a collective action of small farm households entering markets jointly. A lot of domestic and overseas scholars have done researches in this field from various perspectives.

The paper selects Ruoheng farmer watermelon cooperative as the research object to analyze the institution innovation made by small farm households when they are facing the challenges in the big markets from the perspective of their participation in supply chain or markets. The paper consists of 7 sections.

Full case study paper attached.