Comprehensive Plan for Deepening Rural Reform Released, Accelerating the Building of a New Agricultural Management System
Comprehensive Implementation Plan for Deepening Rural Reform Released
Deepen Reform of the Rural Collective Property Rights System, Accelerate the Building of a New Agricultural Management System
□ Our reporter Ni Mingya
The General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council recently issued the "Comprehensive Implementation Plan for Deepening Rural Reform". Proceeding from improving the systematic, holistic and coordinated nature of rural reform, it focuses on five major areas: the rural collective property rights system, the agricultural management system, the agricultural support and protection system, the institutional mechanisms for integrated urban-rural development, and the rural social governance system, so as to further advance the deepening of rural reform.
The Plan makes clear that by 2020, the protection systems for various types of ownership economies in rural areas, especially the ownership of rural collective assets, farmers' land contractual management rights and farmers' property rights, will be further improved; the new agricultural management system, agricultural support and protection system, agricultural socialized service system, agricultural science and technology innovation system, and the rural financial system suited to the characteristics of agriculture and rural areas will be further perfected; the institutional mechanisms for integrated urban-rural economic and social development will be basically established; the rural social governance system and rural grassroots organizational system will be further improved; farmers' democratic rights will be better safeguarded; agricultural and rural laws and regulations will be further improved and strengthened; the level of the rule of law at the rural grassroots level will be further raised; the level of agricultural modernization and farmers' living standards will be further enhanced; and rural economic and social development will be more dynamic.
In terms of deepening reform of the rural collective property rights system, this includes deepening reform of the rural land system, advancing by category the reform to confirm rural collective assets to households and the reform of the shareholding cooperative system, and deepening forestry and water conservancy reform.
Regarding deepening reform of the rural land system, the Plan proposes: First, carry out pilot reforms for rural land expropriation, market entry of collective operational construction land, and the homestead system. Summarize experience in a timely manner and continuously improve it to form replicable and promotable reform outcomes. Second, deepen reform of the rural land contractual management system. Promptly amend relevant laws, implement the major decision of the Central Committee on stabilizing rural land contractual relations and maintaining them unchanged for the long term, and, at an appropriate time, put forward specific plans on such matters as the method for extending farmland contracts after the expiration of the second-round contracts and the new contract term. On the basis of basically completing the confirmation, registration and certification of rural collective land ownership, in accordance with the principle of unified registration of immovable property, accelerate the confirmation, registration and certification of the use rights of homesteads and collective construction land. Clarify and enhance the legal effect of the confirmation, registration and certification of rural land contractual management rights, expand the scope of province-wide pilot programs, and generally ensure that land is confirmed to households, while strictly controlling the scope of confirming rights and shares without confirming land. Issue guiding opinions on pilot programs for mortgage and guarantee of rural contracted land management rights. Carry out pilot programs in places with the necessary conditions for farmers to withdraw from land contractual management rights with compensation. Formulate and issue documents on improving the grassland contractual management system, regulate grassland contracting practices and management methods, and fully mobilize the enthusiasm of the broad masses of herders to protect and develop grasslands. Guide the orderly transfer of the use rights of barren hills, barren gullies, barren mounds and barren beaches under rural collective ownership. Third, improve the farmland protection and compensation system.
In terms of accelerating the building of a new agricultural management system, this includes promoting the standardized and orderly transfer of land management rights, strengthening the standardized development of farmers' cooperatives, innovating the agricultural socialized service mechanism, cultivating a professional farmer workforce, improving the supervision and risk prevention mechanisms for industrial and commercial capital leasing farmland, advancing the reform and development of agricultural reclamation, and comprehensively deepening the comprehensive reform of supply and marketing cooperatives.
Regarding promoting the standardized and orderly transfer of land management rights, the Plan requires that, on the basis of implementing the “separation of three rights” - ownership, contracting rights and management rights - in rural farmland, and in accordance with the principles of legality, voluntariness and compensation, farmers be guided to transfer land management rights in various ways, and to develop various forms of appropriately scaled operations through methods such as using land management rights as equity contributions or trusteeship. The degree of transfer, concentration and scaled operation of land management rights should be properly grasped; there should be no one-sided pursuit of oversized operations, no Great Leap Forward-style campaigns, no coercion or commandism, and no arbitrary administrative direction, so that appropriately scaled operations are compatible with the transfer of rural labor, advances in agricultural science and technology, and the level of agricultural socialized services. The capacity and level of farm household operations should be enhanced, with emphasis on developing family farms of appropriate scale that use family members as the main labor force, rely mainly on agriculture for income, and engage in specialized and intensive agricultural production, making them a vital force in developing modern agriculture. Legislative proposals related to promoting the development of family farms should be put forward in due course.
In terms of improving the agricultural support and protection system, this includes establishing a mechanism for stable growth of investment in agriculture and rural areas, improving the price formation mechanism for agricultural products and the market regulation system for agricultural products, improving the agricultural subsidy system, establishing a new mechanism for the construction and management of farmland water conservancy, deepening reform of the agricultural science and technology system, establishing a mechanism for sustainable agricultural development, and accelerating institutional innovation in rural finance.
In terms of improving the institutional mechanisms for integrated urban-rural development, the Plan proposes improving the planning system for integrated urban-rural development. Revise and improve county-level rural construction plans and town, township and village plans as soon as possible; under the control of the overall plan for township land use, explore the preparation of village land use plans; improve the scientific nature and forward-looking character of planning; and strengthen the binding force and guiding role of planning. Accelerate reform of the household registration system. Accelerate the establishment and implementation of the residence permit system, and, with the residence permit as the carrier, gradually achieve full coverage of basic public services for the resident population.