Why can't targets be set for land transfer
On the afternoon of March 10, the Third Session of the 12th National People's Congress held a press conference at the Media Center. Liu Zhenwei, Vice Chairman of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress, answered reporters' questions on issues related to the Rural Land Contracting Law and the Seed Law.
Liu Zhenwei stated that amending the Rural Land Contracting Law has been included in the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress's legislative plan for this year, and the amendment work has already begun. He said: "The current Rural Land Contracting Law was implemented in 2003. These 12 years have been a period of rapid economic and social development and rapid urbanization in our country. During this period, we had more than 270 million rural laborers find employment in cities and towns, various new types of business entities emerged in large numbers, and the pace of land transfer and scaled operation accelerated. Under these circumstances, the mode of agricultural production and operation has already been changing, so this amendment of the Land Contracting Law is to follow the decisions put forward by the central authorities on improving the rural land contracting system, and to translate these decisions into legal norms, so that the rural land contracting system is compatible with the mode of agricultural production and operation."
As for what the amendment of the Rural Land Contracting Law will mainly involve, Liu Zhenwei stated that the central authorities have already made clear requirements on this issue. The Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Party and relevant central documents proposed stabilizing the rural land contracting relationship for the long term, granting the function of mortgage and guarantee to land contracting and operation rights, and that farmers settling in cities and towns cannot have giving up land contracting and operation rights as a precondition for settling in cities and towns; establishing an access and supervision system for industrial and commercial capital leasing agricultural land; and also safeguarding the land contracting rights and interests of rural women. These requirements put forward by the central authorities are all matters to be considered in the next amendment of the Rural Land Contracting Law.
"Protecting farmers' land property rights and interests in accordance with the law is the main purpose of this amendment of the Land Contracting Law," Liu Zhenwei said. "Land transfer and moderate scaled operation are market behaviors. Targets cannot be set, and performance assessment methods cannot be used to forcefully promote them. Scaled operation is not necessarily better the larger it is. Our national conditions vary greatly, and we must adapt to local conditions. The foot knows how big the shoe is, and the business entity knows how large the scale of operation is. Outsiders cannot overstep their roles and do it for them."
When answering our newspaper reporter's questions on the protection of intellectual property in the seed industry and the variety approval system, Liu Zhenwei said that seeds are the core competitiveness of agriculture. The current Seed Law was promulgated and implemented in 2000, and some systems no longer meet practical needs, so this time it is proposed to amend the Seed Law.
Liu Zhenwei stated that this amendment of the Seed Law mainly provides comprehensive regulation of the breeding research system, the plant new variety protection system, the variety approval system, the seed industry supervision system, and legal liability, so as to provide legal safeguards for establishing a modern seed industry system. The draft has now been completed and will be submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for deliberation as soon as possible.
"The variety approval system is like the access system for industrial products before they enter the market. This system began to be implemented in some provinces in the 1960s and at the national level in the 1980s. At present, we have approved more than 21,000 crop varieties and more than 5,300 forest tree varieties," Liu Zhenwei said. "After the implementation of the variety approval system, a group of fine varieties with good comprehensive traits and wide adaptability were promoted. Of course, this system also has some problems in the course of implementation, mainly that the channel is too narrow and there are many varieties requiring approval. In addition, when we did not have enough to eat in the past, the standard set for varieties was a yield standard, and insufficient attention was paid to disease-resistant, insect-resistant, epidemic-resistant, and good-trait varieties. This was a defect. In the approval process, some places were not fair enough, and these are all problems that this amendment needs to solve. In this amendment, we have reduced the flow in the channel. Previously, the main crop varieties requiring approval were 28, and this time they have been reduced to 5. In addition, we have opened a new channel. For large seed enterprises, that is, seed enterprises engaged in integrated breeding and multiplication, the varieties they independently research and develop can be tested by themselves according to national methods, and the state will no longer organize testing uniformly, but enterprises must be responsible for authenticity. If there is falsification, there will be heavy penalties, and the qualification for self-testing will be revoked. In addition, when approved varieties are promoted and applied, what should be done if serious defects appear? We have established a mandatory exit system. Overall, the variety approval system is still a reasonable system and cannot be abolished at the current stage."
Speaking of the protection of intellectual property in the seed industry, Liu Zhenwei said, "The protection of intellectual property in our country's seed industry started relatively late, but this work has been taken seriously, and the results have been quite remarkable. However, to speak truthfully, the strength of intellectual property protection in our country's seed industry is relatively weak. This is mainly shown in the insufficient play of the incentive system for original innovation, and the result is that there are quite a few people engaged in variety breeding, but we have many modified varieties and imitative varieties, many low-level repetitions, and a serious problem of variety homogenization. This is related to the unreasonable design of our system. For example, if someone engaged in original innovation spends several years or more than ten years developing a variety, but someone else takes this variety or propagation material, makes some modifications to individual traits, and then applies for a new variety, and then promotes and applies it openly, this is a fatal blow to original innovation. Therefore, in this institutional design, we must increase incentive protection for original innovation and strengthen the protection of the interests of original variety rights holders and the pathways for obtaining benefits. It can be said that on the issue of intellectual property protection in the seed industry, we have taken a step forward. Of course, compared with international intellectual property protection in the seed industry, there is still a certain gap, but because we started late, we need to take small steps quickly and move ahead first."