The Service Supply Effect of Cooperatives under Economic Transformation: A Demand-Supply Perspective

As an important part of the sustainable development of agriculture in China, cooperatives have become a hot topic. However, previous literature has mixed results on the relationship between quantity growth and service supply effect of cooperatives. By conducting multiple correspondence analysis, descriptive statistics, and Pearson’s chi-square test on survey data of 785 farmers, this paper aims to describe the characteristics of cooperatives’ members and evaluate the current state of cooperatives’ service supply from a demand-supply perspective. The results of the survey show that male, middle-aged, and middle-class farmers or farmers who plant local optimal crops are more likely to become the members of cooperatives. There is a huge gap between service supply and demand of farmers; cooperatives have a positive effect on reducing the degree of service demand. This effect is only significant when concerning sale, pest control, and mechanization. On the whole, there is a weak correlative relationship between the current service supply of cooperatives and the service demand of farmers in China.