option

optionProtect farmers' land use rights


2003-11-24
China Daily


The transfer of farmers' rights to use contracted land should be better regulated to protect their interests.

China's land system allows farmers to use land based on a land contract. The so-called household contract responsibility system that links farmers' income with output started in the 1980s.

China's law stipulates the land is owned by the State or collective units, for example, villages, but individuals can obtain the right to use it.

In recent years, as the pace of urbanization picks up, more and more farmland has been used for construction purposes.

The transfer of farmers' rights of land use is now in the spotlight.

The 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) last November and the Third Plenum of the 16th CPC Central Committee in early October this year both said land use right transfers should be conducted legally and voluntarily. Farmers must be properly compensated for the transfers.

If handled well, such transfers will help the country urbanize and address the troublesome problem of redundant rural labourers.

However, if not properly dealt with, they may jeopardize the interests of farmers.

Many factors in the transfer of land use rights can hurt farmers' interests.

In the land market, the demand for land far exceeds supply. Many urban developers are desperately seeking plots of land for profitable construction projects but can find few that are designated for construction purposes.

Given the imbalance, the collectives in rural areas - for example, a village committee, the de facto owner of farmers' land - may force farmers to agree to transfer their rights if there is little supervision from a third party. Those collectives could profit greatly from such deals.

The State has the power to regulate land use, as stipulated in the amended Law of Land Administration passed in 1998.

It allows for State requisition of land from collective ownership.

After the resumed land is sold for real estate or other urban construction projects at a high price, most of the returns are poured into urban areas while only a small part goes to rural regions.

Companies that deal with farm produce processing, storage and sales are an important force pushing forward the development of agriculture. But while they seek co-operation with individual farmers, they can pressure some, who have little bargaining power, to transfer their land use rights.

If these companies take advantage of policy loopholes to use the land for urban, rather than rural, development, farmers may be forced off their land. This has happened in some places.

Our land registry needs to be made more comprehensive.

The land use registry provides formal State recognition of farmers' land use rights. It can play a vital role in protecting such rights. But the State has not devised a registry system capable of dealing with changes to farmers' land use rights after their contracts expire.

To better protect farmers' interests, such a system should be promptly put in place.

Some local governments have experimented with different forms of registries.
Some give farmers land contract certificates and urge village committees to sign the agreements with farmers.

But they also need to deal systematically with the different certificates for different kinds of land, such as farmland, grassland and forest land.

By doing so, governments will not only secure farmers' land use contracts, but enhance awareness of their rights.

The country passed its Rural Land Contracting Law in late August 2002. It took effect on March 1.

This law has played an important part in protecting farm land and farmers' rights.
But more detailed implementation procedures should be drafted to make better use of the law.

The government's policies, such as requiring land use and requisition plans and granting land transaction approvals, should be made consistent and transparent. The implementation of the policies should put farmers on an equal footing with developers.

Procedures for land requisitions should also be clarified to rein in the wilful behaviour of some local governments. This will be achieved in amendments to the current land administration law.

Meanwhile, the standards for compensation for farmers' loss of land use rights should be adjusted to properly reflect market prices.

To prevent rural collective organizations, enterprises or individuals from encroaching upon farmers' land, the government must strengthen land use management, especially in some places where urbanization is unregulated and victimizes farmers.
The Ministry of Land and Resources has revealed that 140,254 cases involving land management malpractice were uncovered last year, a 12 per cent increase year on year.

And now there are more than 5,000 economic development zones nationwide, covering 30,000 square kilometres of land, much of which is farmland since the zones are generally located in suburban areas.

This should sound alarm bells for policy-makers.

The author is a researcher with the Rural Development Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The article was originally published in the Beijing-based Chinese Rural Economy magazine.