Why is homestead reform the key point of rural land reform? Expert interpretation

“Promoting the orderly transfer of land management rights can improve the efficiency of land resource allocation and guide farmers and growers to advance appropriately scaled agricultural operations in forms such as self-operation or entrusted operation, which can improve the production and operation efficiency of farmers and growers while increasing their income.” Song Jiening, a researcher on agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery at China Investment Consulting, said yesterday in an interview with a reporter from Securities Daily.

Recently, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the Comprehensive Implementation Plan for Deepening Rural Reform (hereinafter referred to as the Plan), proposing to uphold and improve the basic rural operation system and properly handle the relationship between collective ownership of land and household contracted operation. It calls for implementing collective ownership, stabilizing farmers' contracted rights, and liberalizing land management rights, putting into practice the “separation of three rights.”

At the level of land system reform, the Plan proposes that the basic direction of deepening rural land system reform is: implementing collective ownership, stabilizing farmers' contracted rights, and liberalizing land management rights. Liberalizing land management rights means allowing contracted farmers to allocate land management rights in accordance with the law and voluntarily to entities that have the willingness and ability to operate, and to develop various forms of appropriately scaled operations.

At the same time, on the basis of safeguarding the usufructuary rights over homesteads obtained by farmers in accordance with the law, reform and improve the rural homestead system, explore new mechanisms for farmers' housing security, clearly define farmers' property rights in housing, explore a system of paid use of homesteads and a mechanism for voluntary paid exit, and explore effective ways for the mortgage, guarantee and transfer of farmers' property rights in housing.

Song Jiening said that homestead reform is one of the key points of rural land reform. Reforming rural land homesteads can ensure that rural construction advances steadily in a planned way, is conducive to rural homestead management, changes problems of wasted land resources such as scattered rural homestead layouts and hollow villages, saves land resources, and devotes more land resources to agricultural production.