Guidance document on rural collective property rights system reform being drafted urgently by the Ministry of Agriculture
On May 4, it was learned from the Ministry of Agriculture that the Department of Industrial Policy and Regulations of the Ministry of Agriculture announced on April 30 the 2015 national policies and measures for deepening rural reform, developing modern agriculture, and promoting farmers' income growth. Regarding policies for advancing rural collective property rights system reform, the Ministry of Agriculture proposed to urgently study and formulate a guidance document on rural collective property rights system reform, further clarify the main goals and basic principles of the reform, put forward the main tasks of the reform, and study and introduce policies supporting property rights system reform and the development of the collective economy in areas including fiscal, tax, financial, and land matters.
The Ministry of Agriculture stated that the priorities of the 2015 rural collective property rights system reform mainly also include: First, guiding pilot areas to focus on safeguarding the rights of farmers as members of collective economic organizations, actively developing farmers' share cooperation, and granting farmers rights to possession, returns, paid withdrawal, as well as mortgage, guarantee, and inheritance rights over collective asset shares, carrying out pilot work in these three aspects. Second, guiding pilot areas to focus on improving the rural land expropriation system, establishing a system for rural collective operational construction land to enter the market, reforming and improving the rural homestead system, and establishing a land value-added income distribution mechanism that takes into account the state, the collective, and individuals, carrying out pilot work on these contents. Third, guiding all localities to improve trading rules, perfect operating mechanisms, strengthen trading services, implement public trading, and promote the smooth progress of rural property rights transfer and trading.
In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture stated that in 2015 it will develop policies for moderate-scale operations in multiple forms. Guide the standardized and orderly transfer of land management rights, innovate land transfer and scale operation methods, and actively develop moderate-scale operations in multiple forms. Encourage and support the transfer of contracted land to specialized large households, family farms, and farmers' cooperatives, and develop moderate-scale operations in multiple forms. All localities should, based on factors such as natural and economic conditions, the transfer of rural labor, and the level of agricultural mechanization, study and determine suitable standards for land scale operations in their regions. Prevent the tendency to divorce from reality, violate farmers' wishes, and one-sidedly pursue oversized operations.