World - China liberalises land-use rights

BEIJING: The Communist Party of China (CPC) issued a policy document on Sunday to allow farmers to “lease their contracted farmland or transfer their land-use right” to boost the scale of operation for farm production and provide funds for them to start new businesses.

Markets for the lease of contracted farmland and transfer of farmland use rights shall be set up and improved to allow farmers to sub-contract, lease, exchange and swap their land use rights, or joined share-holding entities with their farmland. Farmers must participate in such transfers of land-use rights voluntarily and with adequate payment, said the CPC Central Committee.

According to Chinese law, farmland is collectively owned, but meted out to farmers in small plots in long-term leasing contracts.

The new measures are seen as a breakthrough in land reforms initiated by Deng Xiaoping 30 years ago. When the document was drafted, some have argued the new policy might create a few landlords and many landless farmers who would have no means for a living. And arable lands to be used for non-farming purposes might threaten the country’s food safety.

Stringent laws


To ease such fears, the CPC has said the country would carry out “the most stringent farmland protection system” and urged authorities to safeguard the 120 million-hectares minimum farmland set-line.

The CPC also called on local governments to stick to “the most stringent land conservation system” to control the total scale of the land used for urban development.

The government would strive to double the per capita disposable income of rural residents to more than $1,200 by 2020.

The CPC also urged more support be given to quicken the development of special rural cooperatives.

This was to turn them into modern agricultural organisations to guide farmers to participate in domestic and global market competition. The CPC also promised to revise relevant laws to regulate and push forward the rural land management system reform in “a normative manner.” — Xinhua