What are the four major chaotic phenomena of illegal occupation of arable land?

Using the form of “renting instead of expropriation” to “enclose land”, and then rapidly building factories and houses on arable land; under the pretext of developing ecological agriculture and high-efficiency agriculture, leasing arable land but actually using it to build factory buildings and factories; a small number of village officials even help do the villagers' work and become “accomplices” in illegal occupation of arable land; lawbreakers split things into parts and exploit legal loopholes in order to avoid criminal punishment……A few days ago, during an interview with the Zhenjiang City Procuratorate in Jiangsu Province, a reporter learned that from January 2012 to now, the city's procuratorial organs have handled a total of 19 cases involving 25 people of crimes damaging rural land resources. At present, illegal and criminal cases involving rural land are showing a trend of frequent occurrence.

Zha Xunyu, deputy chief procurator of the Zhenjiang City Procuratorate, told reporters that with the development of the rural economy, all localities are trying every possible means to attract investment and introduce industrial projects, which inevitably involves issues such as factory construction and land use. Because land expropriation is not only restricted by national land-use quotas, but is also constrained by project content, and because some villagers and even village officials have weak legal awareness, some parties bypass the land and resources department and directly sign land lease agreements with village committees or villager groups, causing the spread of illegal land use. Some urban-rural fringe

areas in particular have become high-incidence areas for such crimes.

Examining the chaotic phenomena———

Chaotic phenomenon one: renting instead of expropriation

When Zhenjiang Paipu Machinery Company needed to rebuild its factory buildings in another location due to demolition, it extended its “black hand” to agricultural land. The company successively rented 29.3 mu of land from the villager groups of Shanbei Village and Houtao Village in Xinfeng Town, Dantu District, Zhenjiang City, and quickly built factory buildings, causing more than 8,000 square meters of arable land to be damaged.

After investigation, the procuratorial organs found that “renting instead of expropriation” is becoming the main means of illegal land occupation. Among the 11 cases of illegal occupation of arable land under filing and supervision by the Zhenjiang City Procuratorate, 6 adopted the form of leasing to replace land expropriation, accounting for 54.5% of the total number of such cases.

Chaotic phenomenon two: renting without using

In order to occupy arable land, some lawbreakers, under the pretext of investing in high-efficiency agriculture, ecological agriculture, and sightseeing agriculture, occupy large amounts of arable land, but in fact do not engage in agricultural project development, instead using it to build factory buildings and run factories. For example, in a case handled by the Dantu District Procuratorate, criminal suspect Wang used developing high-efficiency agriculture as a reason to sign a land lease contract with a village committee in the district, but actually used arable land to build factory buildings to produce manhole covers and bricks.

During case handling, the institute found that after some lawbreakers complete “land enclosure” under various banners, they rent without using and rent without cultivating, waiting for a suitable opportunity to transfer at a high price or obtain high demolition compensation, causing a large amount of rural land resources to be wasted.

Chaotic phenomenon three: collusion between insiders and outsiders

According to the procurators handling the cases, in some cases, villager groups and village officials clearly knew that the rented land was not to be used for agricultural project development, but for other construction, yet still illegally rented and transferred it for profit.

Lu Bolin, full-time member of the procuratorial committee of the Dantu District Procuratorate, told reporters that driven by interests, some village officials or villagers acquiesced in or even “actively cooperated” with illegal occupation of arable land. “Some villagers believe that growing crops does not bring high returns, and that renting out contracted land can obtain higher returns, and the returns can increase every 5 years. Renting out land not only allows them to profit without effort, but also allows them to receive state subsidies for arable land, achieving two goals at once. As for the village committee, it can also collect land rental management fees from the returns on rented land.”

Chaotic phenomenon four: splitting into parts

In order to avoid criminal punishment, some lawbreakers also played the trick of “splitting into parts.”

According to legal provisions, illegal occupation of more than 5 mu of basic farmland or more than 10 mu of other arable land or forest land constitutes a crime. In order to evade criminal punishment, lawbreakers adopt the method of leasing all at once and implementing in stages and batches, controlling the area of land illegally occupied each time so that it does not exceed the criminal punishment threshold. Even if investigated, they would at most receive administrative punishment. Some lawbreakers use the names of multiple relatives or friends to separately sign false land lease agreements with villages and groups, but in fact all the land is rented by themselves. The purpose of doing so is only one———split into parts to evade criminal crackdown.

Prescribing remedies———

Apply the concept of restorative justice, combining diversion and blocking to treat the chaotic phenomena

Land is the “lifeblood” of farmers. Once arable land is destroyed, it will be very difficult to restore.

⟧ The reporter learned that in recent years, Jiangsu Province has continuously intensified its efforts to combat the crime of illegal occupation of agricultural land, while also exploring the application of the concept of restorative justice when handling land cases. For example, the Dantu District Procuratorate established a “soil replacement and reclamation” mechanism. After the criminal suspect or their relatives replace the soil and restore it, according to the specific circumstances of the case, the institute will decide not to prosecute in accordance with the law or recommend that the court give a lenient treatment as appropriate.

During the interview, the procurators handling the cases proposed that while severely cracking down on crimes damaging rural land resources and eliminating the chaotic phenomena of illegal occupation of arable land, attention should also be paid to combining diversion and blocking. For example, give play to the leading role of townships and implement centralized planning and management of land. In response to the reality of rural economic development, within the scope permitted by national policies and regulations, with townships as the main body and through coordinated planning, it can both meet the land-use needs of rural economic development and strengthen the protection of arable land. In addition, to fundamentally resolve farmers' unwillingness and reluctance to grow grain, it is also necessary to increase support for agriculture and benefits to farmers, so that farmers truly feel that farming is “more worthwhile.”