Capital going to the countryside: developing agriculture or staking out land?
Against the broader backdrop of land transfer entering a new normal, industrial and commercial capital flowing to the countryside will be a trend in all regions. If it is not guided and regulated in a timely manner, the phenomenon of staking out land and neglecting farming will intensify.
"These people are used to making quick money in other industries, and they bring that mindset to farming too. For example, many bosses I know rush in droves to develop sightseeing and fruit-picking operations after acquiring land, hoping to cash in immediately; others are seriously speculative, starting right off with high-minded concept hype like ecological agriculture, trying to replicate the tricks of the real estate industry, such as "digging a puddle and hyping it as a scenic lake." But because it is out of touch with reality, 80% of them are losing money."
A reporter recently conducted in-depth research in several parts of Henan and found that this traditionally agricultural province has strong momentum in land transfer. In particular, as new types of business entities keep emerging, land transfer has entered a "new normal," gradually moving away from the previous scattered, small-plot, spontaneous transfers; on the basis of speed and scale "dual-wheel drive," transfer behavior has become more standardized.
⟦NL> At the same time, industrial and commercial capital in Henan going to the countryside to "stake out land" has become a special sight. However, driven by profit-seeking, industrial and commercial capital in some places shows a strong speculative flavor in land transfer, and some have even formed "unfinished projects" because of blind launching. Against the overall orderly backdrop, bubble-like phenomena in land transfer of this kind urgently need attention.
Land transfer enters the "new normal"
51-year-old Chen Guiren is a major grain grower in Luoshan County. Because villagers went out to work, starting in 2009 he "picked up" more than 100 mu in the village for cultivation, and today that number has increased to more than 5,000 mu. Old Chen admits that if he went back a few years, he could never have imagined the current scale of transfer.
"At first it was all spontaneous. When neighbors, relatives, and friends stopped farming, a verbal word was enough, completely free of charge." Chen Guiren said, "Later the scale grew larger and larger, and the average annual transfer fee reached 500 yuan per mu."
Chen Guiren's "land-leasing history" can be called a miniature of Henan's land transfer development. Statistics from the province's Agriculture Department show that Henan's land transfer roughly began to accelerate in 2009. At present, the total transfer area is 33.93 million mu, accounting for 34.8% of household contracted operating land. Monitoring from 2011 to 2013 shows that the average annual growth rate of the total transfer area reached 5%.
Behind the appearance of steady increase, the internal transfer structure is also quietly adjusting. Among this, the annual growth rate of farmers' transfer area has declined, while the growth rate of new entities such as enterprises, cooperatives, and major grain growers has consistently remained above 40%.
"Since entering the "12th Five-Year Plan," Henan's land transfer has relied on the "dual-wheel drive" of speed and scale. Compared with the previous spontaneous transfers and piecemeal efforts, this multiple upgrading and adjustment of speed, scale, and structure has formed the "new normal" of land transfer across the province." said Zhu Jinfang, deputy director of the Rural Economy Division of the Henan Provincial Department of Agriculture.
In August 2014, 7 farmers' cooperatives in Weihui City connected with 1 provincial-level leading agricultural enterprise to form a farmers' professional cooperative union. At present, the union has a total of more than 30,000 mu of land, of which 6,632 mu is transferred, 17,190 mu is entrusted management, and the rest is contract farming. It is reported that the flour enterprise processes 300,000 tons of wheat annually, and will purchase all the grain from the union by referring to the market grain price, choosing the higher rather than the lower.
Cheng Jihua, chairman of the union, told reporters, "In today's union, there are those doing planting, agricultural machinery services, and soil testing and formula fertilization. Previously, each fought alone and all had many "shortcomings." After joining together, resources are shared and advantages are complementary, and small sampans become large sailboats."
"The company mainly processes strong-gluten bread flour. Although farmers' scattered planting of strong-gluten wheat is large in quantity, the standard cannot meet requirements. With this kind of connection now, a safe, stable, and standardized grain source is guaranteed." said Yuan Hui, the person in charge of the above-mentioned enterprise.