Hebei's Three-tier Farmland Trusteeship
Actors involved
Provincial, prefectural and county federations and service entities
Problem addressed
Fragmented smallholdings made scaling up difficult
Role of the cooperatives
Built a socialised agricultural-service system linking the provincial, prefectural and county tiers
Service / business model
About 7.29 million mu placed under trusteeship, covering ploughing, sowing, protection and harvesting services
Strength of cooperative principles
Medium: trusteeship rather than equity participation, farmers retain contract rights
Replicability
High: the trusteeship model has been extended to many provinces
International comparative note
“Farmland trusteeship” is a China-style scaled service, distinct from member cooperative farming