Many Difficulties in Land Confirmation, Pilots Explore New Paths First

In land confirmation and registration, what should be done when the original contracted land accounts do not match reality and the area is inaccurate? In the past, areas were underreported for fear of paying more agricultural tax; now that tax is no longer paid, what should be done if farmers suffer losses during land confirmation and transfer…… In response to the many practical problems encountered in land confirmation and registration, Jiangsu has taken multiple measures at once, done a good job with pilot demonstrations, and given the broad masses of farmers a “reassurance pill” for confirmation and registration.

Since the beginning of this year, on the basis of earlier ministry and provincial pilot projects, Jiangsu has further expanded the pilot work for confirming, registering, and certifying rural land contractual management rights, selecting 16 counties (cities, districts) as pilot units for province-wide coordinated advancement, while all other counties (cities, districts) each selected one township to carry out pilots. Across the province, a total of 500 townships and nearly 2,000 villages carried out pilot work, with 60% of pilot villages entering the household survey or measurement and mapping stage, and 10% of pilot villages entering the public notice review or registration and certification stage.

In order to help the grassroots solve prominent problems encountered in practical work, the Provincial Agricultural Commission, together with the Provincial Department of Land and Resources and other departments, issued documents that clearly stipulated work methods, measurement and mapping, and use of results; together with the Provincial Women's Federation, it issued a document requiring all localities to incorporate a gender perspective into confirmation and registration work and to ensure that rural women are registered under their own names and have rights under those names; at the same time, it provided detailed explanations of the coding of contracting parties, contractors, and contracted land parcels. In terms of confirmation methods, all localities adhered to giving priority to “confirming land” and strictly controlled the scope and procedures of “confirming shares,” ensuring that rural land contractual management rights are truly handed over to farmers; in choosing technical routes, they adopted graphical assistance supplemented by actual measurement to further clarify the contracted land area and the four boundaries of parcels; in selecting base maps, the Provincial Agricultural Commission actively communicated with the Provincial Bureau of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation and implemented the use of 1:2000 orthophoto maps for all localities; in data processing, the province actively developed a provincial-level information platform, paid attention to connecting with pilot counties' information operation platforms and real estate registration platforms, and made full use of information-based means to improve registration quality and efficiency.

⟦NL> Pilot areas across the province used teaching resources trained at the provincial level to conscientiously carry out business training on confirming, registering, and certifying rural land contractual management rights. The 16 counties advancing as a whole trained 3,542 people, achieving the goal of full coverage in training for personnel at the four levels of county, town, village, and group. Places with many conflicts, or where problems could not be solved for the time being, were temporarily put on hold. In practical work, farmers' wishes were fully respected, and the role of democratic consultation and democratic decision-making was brought into play. In particular, major matters such as land investigation, measurement, confirmation, and registration were all decided democratically by villagers, and the results had to obtain farmers' consent. No decisions were made on farmers' behalf, and no forced promotion was carried out.

In the specific operational process, all localities closely followed the target tasks, adhered to registration standards, standardized operating procedures, and strictly controlled the quality of registration results. In terms of pacing, they advanced steadily according to the requirements of doing the easy first and the difficult later, and drawing experience from one point to benefit the whole area. Time was subordinated to quality, and there was absolutely no rushing of progress or going through the motions. According to the “six-step” work procedure of preliminary preparation, household survey, measurement and mapping, public notice review, registration and certification, and archive creation and database entry, and in light of local realities, each step was reasonably refined and the necessary work procedures were determined to ensure that each step could produce key results.