Serious "non-grain" phenomenon in land transfers draws attention
The logical endpoint of capital going to the countryside, paying land rent costs and transferring land, is increasingly serious non-grain operation.
On July 14, the Shaanxi Survey Office of the National Bureau of Statistics released survey results showing that the “non-grain” phenomenon in transferred land in Shaanxi Province is serious, with only 16.7% of land transferred to households growing grain, and most of it was land transferred in at low prices. In Chongqing, 855 private enterprises went “to the countryside” in two years, with total investment exceeding 90 billion yuan, of which 70% of capital was invested in fields such as modern agriculture and tourism.
According to data released by the Department of Economic Management of the Ministry of Agriculture in June, by the end of 2014, the area of contracted cultivated land transferred nationwide reached 403 million mu, an increase of 18.3% over the end of the previous year, and the proportion used for planting grain crops was close to 60%.
Serious “non-grain” phenomenon in transferred land
Urban industrial and commercial capital enters the countryside and, at the cost of land rent, takes land in contiguous transfers, but compared with farmers who “naturally” own land, its soaring agricultural production costs force it to turn to “non-grain” planting and breeding with higher economic returns.
By the end of 2014, the area of contracted cultivated land transferred nationwide had reached 403 million mu, an increase of 18.3% over the end of the previous year, of which about 10% was transferred to enterprises, and the area of transferred cultivated land used for planting grain crops was 229 million mu, accounting for 56.8% of the total transferred area.
In fact, over the past three years, the average annual growth rate of contracted land area flowing into enterprises has exceeded 20%, and large-scale capital “going to the countryside” has obvious advantages and disadvantages.
According to a May report by Guangming Daily, Vice Minister of Agriculture Chen Xiaohua pointed out that from actual operation, industrial and commercial capital entering agriculture has both advantages and disadvantages: on the one hand, industrial and commercial capital can accelerate the transformation of traditional agriculture and the construction of modern agriculture; on the other hand, long-term and large-scale leasing of farmland by industrial and commercial capital can easily aggravate the tendency toward “non-grain” and “non-agricultural” use of cultivated land, with many hidden dangers.
The survey report of the Shaanxi Survey Office shows that land transfer has indeed promoted the diversification of farmers' income, improved land use efficiency and output efficiency, and played a radiating and driving role for surrounding agriculture, but the increasingly serious “non-grain” trend will affect national food security.
“Most people now believe that as long as they have money, they are not afraid of not being able to buy grain, which has seriously affected national food security,” the Shaanxi Survey Office said in the research report. “In order to increase income, only 16.7% of inflow households plant grain, and the transferred land is basically land cultivated on behalf of others between farmer households, subcontracted by migrant workers, or transferred in at low prices in remote areas.”
The Chongqing Federation of Industry and Commerce recently released data pointing out that since 2013, a total of 855 private enterprises have gone “to the countryside,” with total investment exceeding 90 billion yuan, of which 70% of capital was invested in fields such as modern agriculture and tourism. According to a July 15 report by Chongqing Business Daily, Peng Guangyuan, vice chairman of the Chongqing Federation of Industry and Commerce, introduced that the focus of urban capital investing in rural areas is rural planting and breeding, new rural construction, rural infrastructure renovation, rural tourism, etc., of which more than about 70% of urban capital going to the countryside is mainly concentrated in modern agriculture and tourism.
Must prevent capital going to the countryside from crowding out small farmers
Since the 2013 No. 1 Central Document proposed encouraging social capital to invest in new rural construction and to develop planting and breeding suitable for enterprise-based operation in rural areas, capital going to the countryside has accelerated sharply over the past two years.
“In fact, what is most worth guarding against is that some local governments follow the approach of attracting investment to run industry, give a large number of preferential policies, and even forcibly transfer farmers' land, in pursuit of so-called ‘whole-village transfer’ political achievements,” an official from the Ministry of Agriculture told a Daily Economic News reporter. “This creates a combination of industrial and commercial capital and administrative power, which not only almost inevitably slides toward ‘non-grain’ under the purpose of pursuing economic benefits, but also squeezes the living space of small farmers.”
Against the background of industrialization and urbanization, how can land transfer be guided in an orderly manner, modern agricultural development be promoted, and national food security be safeguarded?
According to a May report in Guangming Daily this year, “in order to avoid the emergence in rural areas of large capital crowding out small farmers, avoid large-scale merger of land, and avoid a large number of farmer households losing their status as business entities, a cautious attitude must be adopted toward industrial and commercial enterprises leasing farmers' contracted land for long periods and on a large scale.” Han Jun, deputy director of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs, believes that there is an urgent need to explore and establish a strict access and supervision system for industrial and commercial enterprises leasing farmers' contracted cultivated land.
According to the Opinions on Strengthening Supervision and Risk Prevention for Industrial and Commercial Capital Leasing Farmland issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and three other departments in April this year, it is proposed that when industrial and commercial capital enters agriculture, it should drive farmers to become prosperous together through various channels such as interest linkage and giving priority to absorbing local farmers for employment, not excluding farmers, not replacing farmers, driving large planting and breeding households, family farms and other new agricultural business entities to develop industrialized agricultural operations, realizing reasonable division of labor and mutual benefit and win-win results, and allowing farmers to share more of the value-added benefits of the industry.
In the May report in Guangming Daily, Vice Minister of Agriculture Chen Xiaohua said that in order to prevent possible risks brought by industrial and commercial capital leasing farmland, its leasing of farmland should be carried out in a standardized manner through public markets, and industrial and commercial capital is strictly prohibited from using governments or grassroots organizations to force farmer households to transfer farmland by assigning quotas, setting tasks and other means. All localities are encouraged to establish and improve a risk guarantee fund system for leased farmland to prevent infringement of contracted farmer households' rights and interests.