Why Do Farmers Have "Six Fears and Six Worries" About Land Transfer?

Along with the process of urbanization, young and middle-aged rural people have found jobs that suit them in cities and enterprises, and farmland is more often managed by the elderly left behind. This current situation of “the elderly farming the land” has objectively accelerated the process of rural land transfer. During a survey in a certain place in southern Henan, the author found that farmers have great expectations for land transfer, but at the same time also have “six fears and six worries.”

First, they fear private transfer without an agreement, and worry that oral agreements will lead to disputes. In some places, because of their remote location, there is no large company to transfer land management rights as a whole, and there are only short-term arrangements between household and household, with oral agreements and no clear provisions on the transfer period, the scope of transferred operations, and so on. After the land is transferred, some people arbitrarily change the land use and cause dissatisfaction; some have just invested in the land, but the transferee wants to take it back, and the resulting conflicts and disputes are countless.

Second, they fear that the transferring company lacks strength, and worry that the transfer fees are not guaranteed. In recent years, a large amount of capital has gone to the countryside for land transfer. Some large companies have abundant funds and local government support, so farmers are relatively reassured. But some transferees are only farmers from nearby villages or the local area, and their strength is generally limited. Some were established in the form of cooperatives, and their purpose in transferring land is to use the land as capital to apply for projects and obtain loans. For such transfers, farmers worry that after the land is transferred, the transfer fees will be difficult to pay.

⟦NL> Third, they fear that transferred land will have its use changed, and worry that grain subsidies will not be paid. Some transferred land is used to plant fruit trees or dig fish ponds, and farmers worry that if wheat, corn, rice, and other conventional crops are not planted, the “direct grain subsidy” will not be paid.

Fourth, they fear having nothing to do after land transfer, and worry that their source of livelihood is not guaranteed. This type of situation mainly involves farmers who make a living by farming, aged between 50 and 65, who are no longer wanted for work outside. Giving the fields to others to farm makes them feel a sense of emptiness, and the transfer fee of about 500 yuan per mu per year is too little; if they casually farm it themselves, they can also earn over a thousand yuan per mu.

Fifth, they fear that transferred land will be mortgaged, and worry that the transferred land will be confiscated. After the land is transferred to enterprises, farmers worry that these enterprises are not mainly engaged in farming, but instead are disguised land enclosures, building farms, running breeding farms, and then applying for projects from higher levels and using this as collateral to apply for bank loans. Farmers worry that if the transferring enterprise goes bankrupt or is poorly managed, the mortgaged land will be confiscated by the bank or creditors, and farmers will have nowhere to seek justice.

Sixth, they fear the transfer period is too long, and worry that it will be difficult to recover the land when the transfer expires. The contracts signed by both parties generally run for more than 10 years, and farmers worry that the transfer time is too long and that after expiration it will be difficult to recover management rights. Some transferees have built houses on the transferred land and planted valuable trees, whose value is difficult to calculate. If the contract expires, the transferee is unwilling to withdraw for all sorts of reasons, such as operating losses, compensation for demolition of buildings, or compensation for transplanting trees, and farmers, as a vulnerable group, find it hard to get a fair hearing.