The community is nice, but the inconvenience of farming has become a new problem

Farmers have mixed views on urbanization: The community is nice, but farming is inconvenient

In recent years, in order to enable farmers to achieve urbanization nearby, some “new-type rural communities” have been built one after another in rural Henan. Most of these communities have a clean environment, convenient transportation, and complete supporting facilities such as water, electricity, schools, and cultural and recreational amenities. In the words of local officials, living in the community is no different from the life of city residents. However, quite a few people also hold different views on this kind of “new-type rural community”, believing that it forces farmers to “go upstairs” and does not conform to rural realities.

Why are views so divided about the same thing? The reporter conducted in-depth interviews in rural areas.

“The community is nice, but farming is inconvenient”

Xiayi County is a typical major agricultural county in eastern Henan. Peng Zhiyuan, Party branch secretary of Xiangtailou Village in Luoji Township, told the reporter that starting in 2012, in order to enable rural residents to achieve urbanization nearby, the township no longer approved new homestead land for farmers. Anyone who wanted to build a new house had to buy one in the Shuanglian Central Community where the township government is located.

Peng Zhiyuan said that Shuanglian Central Community is a real estate project jointly developed by a local enterprise and the township government. Villagers from nearby who buy homes here receive certain discounts from the developer and the government.

However, quite a few farmers are not “enthusiastic” about this new-type rural community with convenient transportation, a beautiful environment, and complete supporting facilities. Peng Shijie, a villager from Xiaopenglou Village, told the reporter that the key issue is that it is too far from his family's contracted farmland. “The community is nice, but farming is inconvenient, and there is nowhere to put farm tools,” Peng Shijie said.

Cui Xiulan, a villager from Xiangtailou, had another kind of worry. She did the math for the reporter: rebuilding a multi-story house oneself in the village costs just over 100,000 yuan, while buying an apartment in Shuanglian Central Community costs more than 200,000 yuan even with discounts. With income from farming a few mu of land and doing odd jobs, it is truly unaffordable.

“Everyone knows the community has a good environment and convenient transportation, but living in the community also costs a lot. Water, electricity, vegetables - which of them does not cost money? In the village, if I scatter some vegetable seeds in front of and behind the house, I do not need to spend money on green vegetables for a year,” Cui Xiulan said.

The reporter saw in Shuanglian Central Community that more than a hundred buildings, mainly in Huizhou architectural style, had already been completed, but many houses were still empty. On the concrete in front of some houses, crops such as corn were still being dried. A local official who declined to be named said that Xiayi County is an agricultural county, and most farmers have limited income, making it still difficult for them to support a life like that of city residents.

“Living a life like that of city residents is farmers' dream”

Not all farmers are unenthusiastic about new-type rural communities. When the reporter interviewed Ranzhuang Village in Caoji Township, Xiayi County, it was found that the new-type community here is very popular among farmers.

Ranzhuang Village is in the southeast corner of Xiayi County seat, only five or six li from the county seat. Not far out of the county seat, one can see rows of neat and beautiful two-story small buildings. All the main streets and small alleys are concrete roads, and facilities for centralized garbage collection in front of and behind houses are complete, making it look very clean and tidy.

Village official Wang Xingbang told the reporter that Ranzhuang Village has more than 800 farming households. More than 200 households now live in the new-type rural community, and the remaining households are actively applying, requesting that their old houses be demolished so they can move into the new-type rural community.

According to Wang Xingbang, Ranzhuang Village was originally a specialized livestock breeding village, and the villagers' overall income was relatively high. In recent years, as the county seat's industrial cluster area expanded, with land requisition and land transfer, many farming households in the village no longer farm. Some do business themselves, and some work in the industrial cluster area. The village alone has more than 100 cars purchased by villagers. “Since we no longer farm and our income is secure, which farmer would not want to live in a new-type community?” said villager Ran Qingqiao. “Living a life like that of city residents is farmers' dream.”

Like Ranzhuang Village, villagers of Ganhechen Village in Yuanhui District, Luohe City, also very much like the new-type rural community. “The old village was dirty, messy, and poor, and neighbors often had conflicts. Now everyone no longer farms and no longer walks on muddy roads. We all live in buildings. For seeing a doctor or buying vegetables, we do not need to leave the community. Life is really convenient,” said Yan Xiaosong, a villager of Ganhechen Village, who yearns for the new life in the rural community.

Rural urbanization should prioritize employment and postpone “going upstairs”

For the same new-type rural communities, why are some farmers welcoming while others are unenthusiastic?

Peng Zhiyuan, who has served as a village official for more than 30 years, said that to achieve true urbanization, farmers must first be transferred away from the land and achieve stable employment. If farmers are still scratching a living from the soil, or have not even solved the problem of food and clothing, then even if they are reluctantly made to “go upstairs”, they will not live at ease after moving upstairs.

Regarding the different experiences of new-type rural communities in different places, Wang Yongsu, director of the Development Research Center of the Henan Provincial Government, told the reporter that what farmers oppose is not the new-type rural community, nor urbanization. What they are dissatisfied with is being unrealistically rushed to “go upstairs” when their income is not high and employment is unstable.

Wang Yongsu believes that in the future, China will still have hundreds of millions of farmers who need to move to towns and cities. If rural urbanization is to advance steadily and well, the best approach is to let farmers find employment first and postpone “going upstairs”.