Land transfer trusts reach nearly 300,000 mu in one year

CITIC Trust leads the pack, with Beijing Trust and China Construction Investment Trust close behind

Anxin, Huabao, COFCO and several other trust companies are also preparing

■ Our reporter Xia Qing

For the villagers of Zhumiao Village, Yongqiao District, Suzhou City, Anhui Province, this autumn's harvest is more bountiful than in previous years. Since October 2013, when they entrusted their land use rights as trust property to a trust company for management and operation, the regular trust income has made farmers' wallets fuller.

Since October 2013, when CITIC Trust launched the first land transfer trust in China, a full year has now passed. The benefits of land transfer trusts in improving rural land use efficiency, promoting the industrialized and modernized development of agricultural operations, and increasing farmers' incomes have already begun to show.

Although the current mechanisms for rural land confirmation and transfer are still imperfect, many trust companies are optimistic about the prospects of this new thing. According to incomplete statistics by the Securities Daily reporter, within one year, three companies - CITIC Trust, Beijing Trust, and China Construction Investment Trust - have officially launched more than ten land transfer trusts. Compared with the number, the scale of land involved in the transfers is clearly more eye-catching. According to incomplete statistics, the land that has already begun to be transferred and the land expected to be transferred total nearly 300,000 mu. In addition, trust companies such as Anxin Trust, Huabao Trust, and COFCO Trust have also begun researching or preparing to carry out land trusts.

CITIC Trust is the first to “eat the crab”

As a leading company in the trust industry, CITIC Trust was the first to “eat the crab”.

On October 10, 2013, “CITIC · Rural Land Contracted Management Right Collective Trust Plan Phase 1301” was officially established, with a term of 12 years. The pilot site was Yongqiao District, Suzhou, Anhui, with an initial transferable area of 5,400 mu and a long-term target of 25,000 mu.

It is understood that after the transfer, the land is planned for the construction of a modern agricultural circular economy industry demonstration park, with Anhui Diyuan Modern Agriculture Investment Co., Ltd. serving as the service provider. The park is planned into five major sections, involving more than twenty sub-projects, specifically including: modern agricultural planting and water resource protection engineering, modernized breeding, biomass energy and substrate fertilizer projects, protected agriculture and agricultural Internet of Things, and agricultural research platforms. The five major sections will form a complete agricultural circular industrial chain, achieving high agricultural output, high efficiency, low energy consumption, and low emissions, while also improving farmers' scientific and technological literacy, raising labor productivity, increasing employment rates, and promoting substantial GDP growth.

Afterward, CITIC Trust struck while the iron was hot and successively launched land transfer trust projects in Shandong, Guizhou, Henan, and other places.

In February this year, CITIC Trust signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with the Ma'anshan City government of Anhui Province. According to the strategic cooperation framework agreement, the two sides plan to cooperate in the fields of rural land management right transfer trusts, rural collective asset trusts, and other trust business areas.

During the same period, CITIC Trust also launched Henan's first land transfer trust project - “CITIC · Jiyuan Rural Land Contracted Management Right Collective Trust Plan”. This trust project promoted the concepts of ecological civilization and haze prevention. The first-phase transfer area was 4,094.5 mu of agricultural land, and the transfer scale was expected to reach 20,000 mu within two years. The project introduced the nursery stock and flower industry, and the land user was a local Henan nursery company - Yiling Huayi Greening Engineering Co., Ltd. The transferred land mainly grows nursery stock varieties with haze-prevention, wind-sand resistance, and drought tolerance.

In May, Guizhou Xiwuyuan signed a cooperation agreement with CITIC Trust, becoming CITIC Trust's first land contracted operation enterprise in Guizhou, with an initial cooperation to carry out a 1,021 mu land trust transfer pilot.

In July, with the matchmaking of the Yinchuan Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government, CITIC Trust cooperated with Helan County to pilot rural land contracted management right transfer.

According to incomplete statistics, the scale of land involved in transfers in cooperation with CITIC Trust has exceeded 200,000 mu.

It is worth noting that CITIC Trust is not merely playing the role of an intermediary in land transfers. Through cooperation with agricultural science and technology companies, CITIC Trust also participates in the production management stage. In February this year, CITIC Trust signed the “Cooperation Agreement on Modern Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation and Development under Land Transfer” with Bayer CropScience (China) Co., Ltd. The initial cooperation projects will include Bayer establishing a fruit tree and vegetable solutions demonstration park in Suzhou, Anhui; at the same time, demonstrating the “More Rice” project in Ma'anshan, Anhui, which provides a full-process solution from seed to harvest to help farmers obtain higher economic benefits. The cooperation between the two sides will continue to expand to other land transfer projects of CITIC Trust nationwide, including demonstrating Bayer vegetable solutions in Qingzhou, Shandong.

Beijing Trust and China Construction Investment Trust

Successively test the waters

After CITIC Trust, Beijing Trust and China Construction Investment Trust also officially launched their own land transfer trusts.

Beijing Trust was the second trust company after CITIC Trust to officially launch a land transfer trust project. It is understood that Beijing Trust has already launched four land transfer trust projects, respectively in Wuxi, Jiangsu; Jurong, Zhenjiang; Tongling, Anhui; and Miyun, Beijing. The planted varieties were respectively honey peaches; grain and cash crops; peonies; and cherries and strawberries.

The “Beijing Trust · Land Trust Wuxi Taoyuan Village Project” in Wuxi, Jiangsu, was the first land transfer project officially launched by Beijing Trust on November 7, 2013. The project involved a land transfer area of 158 mu and adopted a dual cooperative design structure of “land cooperative + specialized cooperative”, with a trust project term of at least 15 years. Farmers follow the voluntary principle and contribute their land management rights as shares to the land share cooperative; after transfer, the nature of the agricultural land remains unchanged, and the established specialized cooperative plants honey peaches. In terms of income, a “fixed income + floating income” model is adopted. Farmers can share land rent income of 1,700 yuan per mu per year. After the land and fruit tree cultivation investment period ends, farmers can also obtain floating income according to a certain proportion.

The second trust project established by Beijing Trust in Jurong, “Beijing Trust · Golden Fields Land No. 1-5”, is similar to the Wuxi project, but because it includes many phases, the total transferred land area is relatively larger, at 9,928.46 mu, making it currently Beijing Trust's largest single project. The project adopted a dual trust model, carrying out land property right trusts while, in conjunction with intensive land operation, following up with fund trusts.

Beijing Trust's project in Tongling, Anhui, still adopted the “fixed income + floating income” model. Farmers in the first batch of rural land transfers can obtain fixed income per mu per year at least equivalent to the state minimum guiding purchase price for a certain weight of medium and late indica rice. More importantly, Beijing Trust used rural land as capital contribution and jointly funded the establishment of the Tongling Peony Industry Group with the local government investment platform in Tongling and Zhonghe Supply and Marketing (Shanghai) Equity Investment Fund Management Co., Ltd. The future goal is to strive to build Tongling into the “Peony Capital”. Farmers who transfer land can also obtain shareholder dividends beyond the “fixed income” through the operations of the peony industry group.

As the only current land transfer project in the Beijing area, the “Beijing Trust · Golden Fields No. 2014008 Land Trust (Miyun Shuizhang Village)” project launched in Miyun continued the previous dual cooperative design structure and the “fixed income + floating income” model. The entrusted project area reached 1,680 mu, with a term of 13 years. Farmers can obtain fixed land rent income of 1,000 yuan per mu per year. A specialized cooperative plants crops such as cherries, grapes, and blueberries. After the project becomes profitable, farmers can also obtain floating income. Beijing Trust will next also provide financial support to the cooperative, advancing in parallel the dual trust structure of “property right trust + fund trust”.

While the land transfer trusts of CITIC Trust and Beijing Trust were developing vigorously, in July, China Construction Investment Trust signed a tripartite framework agreement with the Collective Asset Management and Operation Center of Dinggang Town, Zhenjiang New Area, Jiangsu Province, and Zhejiang Senhe Seed Industry, officially launching its own first land transfer trust.

In addition to the three companies that officially launched land transfer trusts, many trust companies followed closely behind and began exploring this highly promising trust business. A person from a trust company headquartered in Henan told our reporter that the company is currently studying the model of land transfer trusts and preparing to launch one. In addition, reports say that trust companies such as Shanghai Trust, Huabao Trust, and COFCO Trust have also begun researching or laying out land trusts.