2014 Central Rural Work Conference Releases Major News
Recently, the Agricultural Cooperation Forum learned from an authoritative channel in Beijing that the 2014 Central Rural Work Conference is about to convene. According to a person familiar with the matter, the level of this rural work conference will still be higher than usual; the 2015 Central Document No. 1 may still focus on the “three rural issues”, and may involve reform of the agricultural reclamation system and the collective economy. Since the new central government took office, the 2013 and 2014 Central Document No. 1 documents began to shift from point-to-surface and from focusing on key areas to a comprehensive approach.
Business opportunity focus: Reform of state-owned farms ignites a trillion-yuan market dividend!
At present, China's agricultural land mainly consists of two parts: rural collective land and state-owned farms within the agricultural reclamation system. Against the background of the overall advancement of land transfer, reform of state-owned farms within the agricultural reclamation system will further accelerate.
Calculate the trillion-yuan market dividend yourself: “As of now, there are 34 reclamation areas nationwide, with a total state-owned land area of about 540 million mu, accounting for 3.7% of the national land area. State-owned enterprises in the agricultural reclamation category possess abundant reserves of high-quality land resources, which constitutes the unique core competitiveness of these listed companies. There are more than 2,000 farms in agricultural reclamation enterprises nationwide, with a land area of 6 million hectares. The agricultural reclamation system utilizes 3.98% of the nation's crop sowing area and contributes 6.61% of the nation's total agricultural output value. The agricultural reclamation system is an important national base for commercial grain and cash crop cultivation, and has exceptionally strong product advantages in high-quality rice, non-GMO soybeans, cotton, sugar crops, fruits and other crops. Taking *ST Dahuang as an example, it possesses 12.96 million mu of high-quality arable land resources on the black soil of Northeast China. Calculated solely at the market price of arable land transfer, its value is estimated at over 100 billion yuan.”
Business opportunity one: Reform of state-owned farms in the agricultural reclamation system, with massive release of land resources!
Against the major background of the state vigorously promoting the transfer of land management rights, reform of state-owned farms in the agricultural reclamation system will undoubtedly inject a large amount of land resources into the land transfer market. After land resources enter the market, the first thing affected is fluctuations in land transfer prices. Currently, land transfer prices in many areas violate the laws of agricultural production. For example, the transfer price of arable land around some cities has reached 5,000 to 6,000 yuan per mu per year, and land transfer prices in some other places are also 1,200 to 1,800. Many of our industrial and commercial capitals have entered agriculture and transferred land at high prices, but by engaging purely in agricultural cultivation, they basically do not make money, and some even lose money. Through the release of large amounts of land resources, this may break the strange cycle of currently high land transfer prices. The multiple releases of market resources, channel resources and land resources from the agricultural reclamation system will provide superior market cooperation prospects for agricultural investment enterprises, agricultural enterprises, cooperatives and family farms!
Business opportunity two: Scale agriculture is highly sought after, and facility agriculture has endless business opportunities!
The entry of large amounts of land resources into the market and the state's advocacy of full transfer of land management rights, encouraging appropriate scale operations, all point to scale agriculture. A series of agricultural economic organizations, including agricultural investment enterprises, agricultural enterprises, cooperatives and family farms, engaging in scale agriculture has become the choice of many people! Then, in the process of developing scale agriculture, if we want to achieve profitability in scale agriculture, the first thing is to improve the production efficiency of scale agriculture and increase yields. First is variety improvement, and second is the construction of agricultural facilities in the process of scale agricultural production! All of these cannot be separated from the support of facility agriculture. Through the reform of state-owned farms in the agricultural reclamation system and the major background of the state encouraging the transfer of land management rights, enterprises engaged in facility agriculture will gain unprecedented market opportunities. A rough estimate is that such market enthusiasm will last for 5-10 years!
Business opportunity focus: Business opportunities in rural land reform!
China's market-oriented reform has gone through more than 30 years. Most products and production factors have achieved marketization, while the marketization of land factors has lagged relatively behind. The scope of land system reform includes 4.5 billion mu of land for which farmers hold use rights and 50 million mu of rural collective operational construction land. The land for which farmers hold use rights includes homestead land and farmland contracted by farmers. The Agricultural Cooperation Forum estimates that rural homestead land totals 150 million mu, and according to current statistics, farmers have contracted 1.3 billion mu of arable land and 2.57 billion mu of other types of farmland. However, the previously registered contracted arable land area is underestimated, and the actual area may reach 1.8 billion mu.
Land marketization reform will improve land use efficiency, substantially increase farmers' property income, adjust government land expropriation behavior, and control financial risks. The efficiency of scale land management will be greatly improved, promoting the transfer of labor and truly realizing the transformation of farmers into urban residents. In the previous round, some urban employees shared the benefits of asset appreciation through welfare housing distribution, currently valued at 13 trillion yuan. But the 4.5 billion mu of land for which farmers hold use rights is even more valuable, estimated at 50 trillion yuan, or nearly 60,000 yuan per capita.