The negative effects of capital's profit-seeking must be put in a cage
Recently, General Secretary Xi Jinping issued important instructions on farmland protection. He stressed that farmland is China's most precious resource. China's basic national condition of having many people and little land determines that we must protect the farmland that concerns the major issue of feeding more than a billion people, and there must be no mishap. In the pilot reform of the rural land system, we must keep a firm grip on the gate, and must not let some people occupy farmland in the name of reform. In particular, we must prevent some industrial and commercial capital from entering rural areas to engage in non-agricultural construction after intervening in land circulation, thereby affecting farmland protection and grain production.
"Targeted" and "deafening" are among the language style and characteristics of General Secretary Xi's speeches. This important instruction from General Secretary Xi also highlights this language style. Standing at the height of the overall situation and history, he not only stressed that farmland protection must not go wrong, but also specifically pointed out the risk points that require special attention in the current farmland reform, which undoubtedly has a very strong practical relevance.
Regarding the reform of the rural land system, although the central government has made clear the "three bottom lines," persisting in not changing the nature of public ownership of land, not breaking through the red line of farmland, and not harming farmers' interests, and has proposed advancing in an orderly manner on the basis of pilot projects. However, it must be frankly acknowledged that voices openly or covertly opposing the "three bottom lines" have appeared from time to time, and "jumping the gun" in pilot farmland reform has also occurred from time to time.
At present, what is particularly worth guarding against is that under the negative influence of the theory of land "privatization," capital going to rural areas to "stake out land" has already shown a surging undercurrent in some places. The reason some capital dares to break through the prohibitions of laws and regulations, collude with a small number of grassroots officials to brazenly stake out land in rural areas, and secretly bet on the revision of relevant laws and regulations, is mainly driven by two things: first, the pursuit of immediate and long-term "profits"; second, the desire for the "windfall profits" of illegal conversion of farmland to non-agricultural use.
The immediate "profits" of "staking out land" come from various subsidies for modern agriculture. In many places, when capital goes to the countryside to concentrate land, modern agricultural machinery and equipment, drip irrigation facilities, and the like almost do not require their own investment, and there are also various agriculture-related low-interest (subsidized) loans; the long-term "profits" are the ability to escape the pressure of currency depreciation. China's M2-to-GDP ratio has repeatedly hit historic highs. At present, the returns from farmers cultivating land are low, and the cost of enclosing rural land is very cheap. Some experts have repeatedly suggested that as the monetary tiger is raised bigger and bigger, it can be fed with the meat of rural land.
The "windfall profits" from farmland conversion to non-agricultural use in "staking out land" come from illegally converting farmland to non-agricultural use after capital successfully encloses land in rural areas. Due to land use control, the conversion of agricultural land to construction land is strictly controlled, and the supply and demand of construction land is far tighter than that of agricultural land. Once land is converted from agricultural land to construction land, its value can be enormously enhanced. For this kind of illegal conversion of farmland to non-agricultural use, how could the "windfall profits" be merely "three hundred percent"?
Therefore, among the capital that goes to rural areas to "stake out land," very little is satisfied merely with the pursuit of immediate and long-term "profits"; more of it also craves the "windfall profits" of illegal conversion of farmland to non-agricultural use. If capital is allowed to run wild on rural land, on the one hand, the tragedy of landless farmers being displaced is very likely to appear, and on the other hand, the destruction of precious farmland resources is also an inevitable result.
"With grain in hand, there is no panic in the heart. Safeguarding food security is an eternal issue for China, and it must not be relaxed at any time. Historical experience tells us that once a great famine occurs, having money is useless." Farmland is the foundation of grain production. If farmland reform is not only unhelpful to farmland protection, but instead leads to non-agricultural use of farmland and threatens national food security, then such reform can hardly be called successful.
The reform of the rural land system is an important component of comprehensively deepening reform. In order to facilitate the ultimate realization of the country's overall interests, fundamental interests, and long-term interests, in farmland reform we must guard against the negative effects of capital's profit-seeking and put them into the "cage" of law and institutions.