How are permanent basic farmlands designated?
Recently, the General Office of the Ministry of Land and Resources and the General Office of the Ministry of Agriculture jointly issued the "Notice on Effectively Completing Matters Related to the Designation of Permanent Basic Farmland Around 106 Key Cities" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"). On the basis of analyzing and evaluating the distribution, area, quality grade, and other aspects of existing cultivated land around 106 key cities that has not been designated as permanent basic farmland, preliminary tasks for the designation of permanent basic farmland in these key cities were proposed and issued, and specific requirements for advancing the designation work were refined and clarified.
What are the requirements in the designation of permanent basic farmland around 106 key cities? How are other areas and areas outside city peripheries designated? How does the designation of permanent basic farmland connect with work such as the adjustment and improvement of overall land use planning? Recently, the person in charge of the Cultivated Land Protection Department of the Ministry of Land and Resources interpreted this.
How are designation tasks determined? —— First, determine the scope of the city periphery
“In determining this scope, in principle the planned control scope of the central urban area as determined by the overall land use plan is taken as the city periphery scope.” The person in charge said, “For cities where the current status of urban construction land has reached or approached the planned control scope of the central urban area, comprehensively considering factors such as the current distribution of urban construction land reflected in the city's 2012 land use change survey, the construction land control zoning determined by the overall land use plan, and other factors, without crossing municipal administrative boundaries, an appropriate range is expanded to determine the city periphery scope, covering the current land category status within permitted construction zones, conditionally permitted construction zones, restricted construction zones, and prohibited construction zones in the area.”
The person in charge said that at the end of last year, the Ministry of Land and Resources, together with the Ministry of Agriculture, carried out analysis and evaluation of permanent basic farmland around 106 key cities. In January of this year, the two ministries, based on the 2012 land change survey results, overall land use planning results, and national cultivated land quality grade evaluation results, and relying on the comprehensive land and resources supervision platform, analyzed and evaluated the distribution, area, quality grade, and other aspects of existing cultivated land around 106 key cities that has not been designated as permanent basic farmland. “By overlaying the current land category patch layer within the city periphery scope with the patch layer of already designated basic farmland around the city, cultivated land patches around the city that have not been designated as permanent basic farmland were obtained, forming the preliminary task for the designation of permanent basic farmland around the city. The issuance of this task differs from the past: it is not simply data, but is implemented down to specific patch layers, including the spatial layout, land category, area, and quality grade of cultivated land around each city that has not been included in permanent basic farmland.”
How are tasks refined and decomposed?
—— Permanent basic farmland around cities is mapped into the database and implemented down to households
“The competent land and resources and agriculture departments of each relevant city shall, under the unified organization of the local government, in accordance with relevant requirements and according to the final issued tasks, advance work such as ‘locating plots, clarifying responsibilities, setting up markers, establishing tables and registers, and entering into the map database’ for permanent basic farmland, ensuring that by the end of 2015 the mapping into the database and implementation down to households of permanent basic farmland around cities is fully completed.” The person in charge explained.
The person in charge said that specifically, first, investigate and verify. Each relevant city shall, based on the “layer of cultivated land around the city not designated as permanent basic farmland” in the issued preliminary tasks, use the latest remote sensing imagery, land change survey, cultivated land quality grade evaluation, and county-level cultivated land fertility survey and quality evaluation results, and other materials, to carry out investigation and verification of existing cultivated land around the city, verifying plot by plot whether it can be designated as permanent basic farmland. Second, verify and provide evidence. Relevant cities shall investigate and verify the preliminary designation tasks issued from above; for those that cannot be designated as permanent basic farmland, they shall explain the reasons and list supporting materials, and must ensure that high-quality cultivated land around cities and already built high-standard farmland are all included in the task of designating permanent basic farmland. It is worth emphasizing that for relevant cities, where the actual land category is indeed non-cultivated land and truly cannot be designated as permanent basic farmland, the 2013 annual land change survey and relevant lawful documents shall be used as the basis for evidence.
How is the designation work carried out?
—— The designation of permanent basic farmland must be advanced in coordination with the adjustment and improvement of land use planning
“At present, the adjustment and improvement of the overall land use plan is being carried out. First, it involves adjusting the tasks of cultivated land and basic farmland protection; second, it involves the optimized adjustment of the layout of basic farmland and construction land. Therefore, the designation of permanent basic farmland must be advanced in coordination with the adjustment and improvement of land use planning, and overall arrangements must be made for the designation of permanent basic farmland throughout the entire city (town) area.” The person in charge said.
Before the planning adjustment and improvement, the focus is on effectively completing the designation of permanent basic farmland around cities (towns). A top-down approach shall be adopted, and in accordance with the tasks and requirements verified and issued from above, the designation of permanent basic farmland around cities (towns) shall be completed first, ensuring that high-quality cultivated land around cities and along transportation lines and already built high-standard farmland are given priority for designation as permanent basic farmland. If not completed as required, the approval (filing) of the planning adjustment and improvement results will not be accepted.
Before the planning adjustment and improvement, these tasks must be specifically completed: first, sort out in advance the quantity, quality, and distribution of cultivated land that should be but has not been designated as permanent basic farmland, with the focus on analyzing and evaluating the potential for designating permanent basic farmland around towns and along transportation lines, and clearly ascertain the area of already built high-standard farmland, so as to provide a basic basis for the planning adjustment and improvement. Second, the designation of permanent basic farmland around cities involves adjusting the layout of basic farmland. Therefore, the relevant content must be written into the permanent basic farmland designation plan and incorporated into the planning adjustment and improvement plan at the same level.
After the planning adjustment and improvement, overall arrangements shall be made for the designation of permanent basic farmland throughout the entire city (town) area. In accordance with the requirements of basically stable layout, no reduction in quantity, and improvement in quality, and in the order of spatial proximity from near to far and cultivated land quality grade and fertility grade from high to low, permanent basic farmland outside city peripheries shall be designated in a timely manner, ensuring that all target tasks for basic farmland protection in the city (county) area determined by the adjusted and improved plan are mapped into the database and implemented down to households.