Kang Jiaojiao: Accelerate the Development of the New-Type Rural Collective Economy [1]
Rural collective economic organizations are vital subjects for developing and expanding the new-type rural collective economy, consolidating socialist public ownership, and promoting common prosperity. They constitute an important force for refining the rural governance system and achieving good rural governance, as well as an essential guarantee for enhancing the cohesion of the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) grassroots rural organizations and consolidating the Party’s foundation for governing in the countryside. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee emphasized the need to "develop the new-type rural collective economy, construct operating mechanisms with clear property rights and rational distribution, and grant farmers more adequate property rights and interests." Currently, as traditional agriculture accelerates its transformation and upgrading toward modern agriculture, only by quickening the development of the new-type rural collective economy and building a solid material foundation for the comprehensive revitalization of the countryside can we more effectively advance the construction of a strong agricultural country and realize common prosperity for all people.
Developing the new-type rural collective economy is an important means to achieve strong agriculture, beautiful countryside, and wealthy farmers.
Rural collective economic organizations refer to regional economic organizations based on collective land ownership that exercise ownership rights on behalf of the collective membership according to the law. They implement a two-tier operating system [1] based on household contracted management that integrates "unified" and "separate" operations. These include rural collective economic organizations at the township, village, and group levels. The new-type rural collective economy refers to an economic form under the socialist market economy system that relies on modern technology and management concepts to innovate and upgrade the traditional collective economy. It is manifested in the expansion of business formats, the upgrading of qualitative states, and the diversification of realization methods. Promoting the high-quality development of the new-type rural collective economy is an important means to realize strong agriculture, beautiful countryside, and wealthy farmers, and is of great significance for promoting the comprehensive revitalization of the countryside.
Accelerating the development of the new-type rural collective economy is an important guarantee for building a strong agricultural country. Currently, China’s output of various agricultural products ranks first in the world; however, new targets and requirements—such as breaking the "tight balance" [2] between grain supply and demand and increasing the supply of green, high-quality agricultural products—require further assistance from the new-type rural collective economy. As agricultural productive forces leap forward rapidly, changes in modes of production and organizational forms have led to new issues regarding the adaptability of the relations of production to the productive forces. We should give full play to the "unified" (tǒng) function of the new-type rural collective economy to effectively integrate rural resources. This will continuously meet the needs of agricultural infrastructure construction and technological equipment upgrading, improve production efficiency, extend industrial chains, and promote the transformation of traditional agriculture and the deep integration of the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries [3]. These efforts aim to respond to new requirements in food security and technological progress, achieving the developmental goal of a strong agricultural sector.
Accelerating the development of the new-type rural collective economy is a necessary means to build a beautiful countryside. With profound changes in rural socio-economic forms and the continuous rise of urbanization levels, new shifts have emerged: the movement and long-term separation of members from rural collective economic organizations, the acceleration of rural aging alongside increased social security demands, and adjustments in interests and distribution. Consequently, the development of the rural collective economy faces new issues regarding clarity of property rights and the provision of public services. On the basis of enhancing the strength and vitality of the rural collective economy, it is necessary to improve material security and risk-resistance capabilities, effectively improve the level of public services in villages, strengthen the inheritance and provision of rural spiritual culture, and promote the continuous improvement of the rural human settlement environment to achieve the developmental goal of a beautiful countryside.
Accelerating the development of the new-type rural collective economy is the primary lever for achieving common prosperity. During the stage of consolidating and expanding the achievements of poverty alleviation [4], and in the face of issues such as the two-way flow of urban-rural factors and resources and the urban-rural income gap, it is necessary to closely integrate the subjective initiative of farmers with the development of the collective economy. This will effectively drive all farmers toward the path of prosperity together. Stimulating the role of the new-type collective economy in optimizing rural industrial layouts and promoting the union of multiple industrial types and the diversified development of the rural economy can further drive increases in farmers' income. Through the powerful organizational force of the collective economy, a synergy of labor and capital based on "joint construction and win-win results" can be formed, effectively reducing individual operational risks and improving income stability, thereby achieving the developmental goal of wealthy farmers.
Further expanding the development ideas and space for the new-type rural collective economy.
Currently, the development of China’s rural collective economy remains insufficient. The integration of collective economic organizations with the rural industrial system needs to be deepened, and linkages need to be strengthened. We must further expand the development ideas and space for the new-type rural collective economy by refining grassroots Party building and promoting industrial upgrading, property rights reform, and institutional optimization.
Refine grassroots Party building to consolidate the organizational foundation for the development of the new-type rural collective economy. Adhering to the leadership of the Party is the "ballast stone" (dìngpánxīng) and "compass" [5] for promoting the high-quality development of the new-type rural collective economy. First, strengthen the construction of rural grassroots Party organizations and enhance the effectiveness of "Party-building-led" grassroots governance. Explore "Party building +" models to grasp the direction and quality of collective economic development. Second, strengthen the ranks of Party members and give full play to the role of grassroots Party organizations as "fighting fortresses" and the exemplary vanguard role of Party members. Utilize assistance mechanisms such as "village-stationed teams" and "downward deployment" (xiàchén) [6] to select and strengthen talented teams, establish reasonable incentive mechanisms, and improve the governance and execution capabilities of Party organizations within the rural collective economy. Third, aggregate resources through Party building and play a role in mass organization and social guidance. Optimize the talent pool of collective economic organizations through cultivation, introduction, and appointment. For example, Zhejiang Province launched the "Thousand Village CEO Training Program," Yuhang District in Hangzhou recruited rural professional managers, and Guangdong Province dispatched professional managers to rural collective economic organizations, all of which have aggregated more resources for the development of rural collective economies.
Promote the transformation and upgrading of the rural industrial system to strengthen the industrial foundation of the new-type rural collective economy. First, deeply excavate and cultivate characteristic industries and fully stimulate the developmental potential of "grand agriculture" [7] by cultivating new advantages for the collective economy through horizontal clustering and vertical supply-chain integration. For example, Zhanqi Village in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, promoted the development of the "Pixian Broad Bean Paste" characteristic industry through methods such as quantifying collective shares. Second, encourage collective economic organizations to tap into the advantages of village collective resource endowments, adopting diverse development methods suited to local conditions—such as resource contracting, property leasing, intermediary services, and asset equity participation—to explore new value-added mechanisms for the collective economy. For example, Xinfeng Village in the Pudong New Area of Shanghai evolved from a "property leasing model" to full-chain development encompassing "leasing-residence-operation," while Zhejiang’s "village-to-village unions" expanded collective industries through horizontal "group-style" cooperation. Third, utilize emerging digital technologies to build platforms, strengthen two-way communication between rural and urban industries, accelerate the digital transformation of agricultural and non-agricultural industries, and promote the formation of new rural business formats. For example, Xiuwen County in Guizhou Province established a "Smart Agricultural Wholesale Cloud Platform" that monitors price dynamics for over 1,600 types of agricultural products daily and provides one-stop services such as food testing and cold-chain storage, serving more than 20,000 diverse subjects.
Strengthen institutional optimization and innovation to ensure the sustainability of the new-type rural collective economy. First, deepen property rights reform, construct operating mechanisms with clear property rights and rational distribution, fully empower and revitalize rural collective assets, and grant farmers more adequate property rights and interests. For example, Songjiang District in Shanghai explored the market entry of rural collective land for commercial construction purposes, expanding new avenues for the effective utilization of existing rural resources. Second, innovate collective economy governance mechanisms and refine the collective interest distribution system. Accelerate the integrated development of the collective economy and the market economy, and explore ways to coordinate the social security attributes of the collective economy with its market-oriented operational attributes, ensuring farmers truly become beneficiaries of collective economic development and achieving a "synchronized resonance" [8] between strengthening the village and enriching the people. Third, on the basis of promoting the implementation of the "Rural Collective Economic Organization Law," establish reasonable regulatory systems, optimize internal supervision mechanisms, and fortify external supervision systems. This will strengthen the regulation of collective assets, effectively control operational risks, and ensure that the benefits of the collective economy fairly reach every member of the organization.
(Authors: Kang Jiaojiao and Wu Fangwei. Respective affiliations: Assistant Researcher at the Institute of Chinese-path Modernization, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics; Dean and Professor at the Institute for Urban and Rural Development, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.)