Rural Work Conference Sets the Direction of Reform: One-Quarter of Farmland Expected to Be Granted Confirmed Rights and Certificates Next Year
The Central Rural Work Conference was held in Beijing from the 22nd to the 23rd. The conference discussed the "Several Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Further Deepening Rural Reform and Accelerating the Promotion of Agricultural Modernization (Discussion Draft)," and proposed five major areas of work for developing agricultural modernization: first, vigorously develop agricultural industrialization; second, actively develop moderate-scale operations in various forms; third, build a resource-conserving and environment-friendly agriculture; fourth, increase agricultural policy and funding support; fifth, make good use of both markets and both types of resources.
Regarding the active development of moderate-scale operations in various forms, the conference emphasized that this is the only way to agricultural modernization and also the voluntary choice of the farmers. It is necessary to guide and regulate the orderly transfer of land management rights, develop various new types of agricultural business entities, adhere to giving priority to grain and agriculture, avoid “de-grainization,” and resolutely prohibit the “de-agriculturalization” of cultivated land. There are many ways to develop moderate-scale operations, and it is necessary to adapt to local conditions, fully give play to the pioneering spirit of the grassroots and the masses, and allow “exploration, exploration, and more exploration.” As long as it complies with national laws and policies, conforms to the direction of reform, and is welcomed by the farmers, no matter what form it takes, it should be encouraged and supported.
As basic work to ensure the orderly transfer of land management rights, a reporter from the Economic Information Daily learned from the National Agricultural Work Conference held at the same time that in 2015 the pilot program for confirming, registering, and certifying land contractual management rights in China will be further expanded, with 8 to 10 more provinces selected to carry out whole-province pilots, and each prefecture-level city in other provinces selecting 1 county to carry out a whole-county pilot, with coverage reaching about 500 million mu. Experts said this means that one-quarter of the country's farmland contractual management rights are expected to receive confirmed rights and certificates next year, and future land transfers will be smoother.
⟦NL> It is reported that in 2014 the pilot work for confirming, registering, and certifying land contractual management rights in China advanced steadily, with whole-province pilots carried out in Shandong, Sichuan, and Anhui, plus whole-county pilots in other provinces. At present, the pilot coverage area has reached 330 million mu.
Zheng Fengtian, a professor at the School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development at Renmin University of China, said that many local governments still need to improve their enthusiasm for the work of confirming rights and issuing certificates. The central government requires that confirmation of rights be completed within five years, but this year only three whole provinces are in pilot programs, so it can only be said to have just set sail. Therefore, selecting 8 to 10 more provinces next year for whole-province pilots is a comprehensive acceleration of this work.
Chen Xiwen, deputy head of the Central Rural Work Leading Group and director of its office, said that in addition to the three whole provinces of Shandong, Anhui, and Sichuan announced in March this year, Zhejiang Province is now the province advancing the work of confirming rights and issuing certificates fastest nationwide. However, the length of the contract period after confirmation, registration, and certification is currently a very tangled technical issue. The Third Plenary Session of the 17th Central Committee mentioned that the existing contractual relationship should remain stable and unchanged for a long time, so in some places the contract certificate writes the words “unchanged for a long time” in the contract term column. Yet there are still no specific provisions on this in law or in the system, so the central government has already clearly proposed to urgently study what the legal expression of unchanged for a long time actually is.
In addition to the basic work of confirming, registering, and certifying land contractual management rights, next year multiple reforms concerning rural collective land will also actively follow up. Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu also proposed the specific way to carry out this work on the 23rd at the 12th session of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress. He pointed out that the next step will be to cooperate with the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress to promptly revise the Land Contract Law, grant farmers the mortgage and guarantee rights and powers of land management rights, and allow farmers to use management rights as shares to develop agricultural industrialization operations. It is necessary to deepen the reform of the rural collective property rights system, carry out pilot reforms for rural collective operational construction land entering the market, and launch pilot reforms of the shareholder rights and powers of rural collective assets.
The main results of the Second National Land Survey and other relevant data show that the total area of rural collective land nationwide is 6.69 billion mu, including 5.53 billion mu of agricultural land and 310 million mu of construction land, with non-resource assets reaching 2.4 trillion yuan. It is reported that reform of the rural collective property rights system began 25 years ago. Nationwide, about 4.8% of village collectives have already carried out reform of the shareholder rights and powers of rural collective assets. By the end of last year, 28,000 villages and 50,000 villager groups nationwide had completed reform to quantify assets, involving more than 430 billion yuan in assets, with cumulative share dividends exceeding 150 billion yuan. In 2013 alone, the amount of dividends was close to 30 billion yuan. However, problems such as unclear ownership of property rights, unsmooth land transfers, and an unreasonable land system remain unresolved, so it is the first time that the central level has proposed carrying out pilot reforms of shareholder rights and powers.
Vice Minister of Agriculture Chen Xiaohua previously said that an important purpose of the reform pilot is to actively develop farmer shareholding cooperation. The requirements are “clear ownership, clear rights and responsibilities, strict protection, and smooth transfer,” and the core task is to grant farmers six rights and powers over collective asset shares, including possession, income, paid exit, mortgage, guarantee, and inheritance. In addition, it is also necessary to further clarify the three rights in order to expand the rights and powers of land management rights, and to clarify the use control mechanism and income distribution mechanism for rural collective construction land entering the market. All of these require deepening the existing reform of the rural collective property rights system.
In this regard, Zheng Fengtian said that the focus of reform of the shareholder rights and powers of collective assets is both to prevent the loss of collective assets and to ensure that collective members enjoy the dividends of reform, achieving preservation and appreciation of assets. The first task is to clarify the family assets and confirm member identities and the quantity of assets. This work has become much more difficult with the increase in rural household registration migration in recent years. The central government cannot deploy it uniformly and can only rely on village collectives to explore on their own, and then form a relatively complete shareholding system on the basis of exploration.
Zheng Fengtian said that for the rural collective economy, in fact the “fattest” piece of “meat” is rural collective operational construction land. The market-entry reform pilot about to be carried out can revitalize this highest-quality asset of the collective economy and maximize its value. However, attention must also be paid to preventing collectives from using excuses to do whatever they want with farmers' contractual management rights, so revising the Land Contract Law is very important, and farmers' contractual management rights must be protected according to law. In fact, regarding reform of the land system, the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee already made detailed arrangements. What is most important now is how to implement them. Among them, the forms through which the rural collective economy is realized after reform and the forms in which public ownership exists are currently the issues the government cares about most.
Some people have also questioned reform of the shareholder rights and powers of rural collective assets, believing that shareholding will become a reform that “supports lazy people,” causing some farmers to just wait for dividends. In response, experts said that this situation has indeed appeared in some areas of southern China, but it should be noted that this phenomenon is not unique to rural areas. It is the same principle as urban residents renting out real estate, and it is a natural market phenomenon. Moreover, at present this phenomenon does not appear to be widespread in rural areas, so there is no need to worry too much.