As of last year, Maoming had 6,436 specialized farmers' cooperatives, ranking second in Guangdong province. 

A harvester reaps wheat in Maoming. [Photo/WeChat account: maofabu]

Maoming now has 37 State-level, 95 provincial-level, 347 municipal-level and 27 demonstration cooperatives, with the total number of cooperatives climbing to 67,199.

From 2020 to 2022, Maoming cultivated 35 municipal, 53 provincial and eight national demonstration cooperatives.

The Baqiao Longan and Lychee Specialized Farmers' Cooperative in Gaozhou, a county-level city, currently has 58 members. The cooperative purchases the fresh longans and lychees produced by its members at a price of 6 yuan ($0.8) per kilogram, which is higher than the market price. This has led to an average annual income increase of 10,000 yuan for its members.

The cooperative has a 1,300-square-meter longan and lychee sales market and three insured cold storage facilities. It provides sales coordination, dried fruit processing, and frozen storage services for over 3,000 local fruit farmers, leading to an additional income of 3,000 yuan for them.

In 2022, banks in Maoming issued 695 loans to cooperatives and their members, with a loan amount of about 250 million yuan, easing the financing difficulties of cooperatives.