How Should the Orderly Transfer of Rural Land Management Rights Be Promoted
As an important part of rural land system reform, the transfer of land management rights has long been a focus of debate among all sectors of society. In recent years, in step with industrialization, urbanization and especially with the large numbers of rural laborers going to cities to work, rural land transfer has clearly accelerated. By the end of 2013, the area of contracted farmland transferred by farmers nationwide reached 340 million mu, with a transfer rate of 26%. On the whole this has been steady and sound, but some problems also exist, mainly as follows: some places, in the name of attracting investment and building key projects, ignore farmers' wishes and rights and rely on administrative orders to force farmers to transfer land; many industrial and commercial enterprises, in order to obtain maximum profit, arbitrarily change land use, intensifying the “de-agriculturalization” and “de-grainization” of land; the land transfer market is imperfect, and farmers' income from land transfer cannot be effectively guaranteed; some places have a blind tendency to seek large scale and rapid speed, exceeding the pace of local rural labor transfer and the degree of acceptance of farmers, and so on. All of this clearly hinders the orderly transfer of rural land.
Land is the capital on which farmers depend for survival, the foundation of farmers' property, and also farmers' most important economic right and interest. Healthy and orderly land transfer helps promote agricultural efficiency, increase farmers' income and develop rural areas. If land transfer is carried out without rules and in a disorderly manner, it will not only hinder the development of modern agriculture, but also affect rural social stability. Under the new situation, how to innovate the agricultural management system, invigorate land management rights, and promote the orderly transfer of rural land is a highly policy-oriented task. In the author's view, promoting land transfer should both advance rural economic and social transformation and urbanization, and protect farmers' rights and interests to the greatest extent, focusing on the following aspects.
Promoting Land Transfer from the Perspective of Safeguarding Farmers' Rights and Interests
The land issue is the most central issue of farmers' interests. The relationship between farmers and land is the most important economic relationship in rural areas, and also the most important political relationship. The transfer of land management rights is essentially a major adjustment of farmers' land rights and interests. For more than 30 years, the fundamental starting point of China's rural reform has been to respect farmers' wishes and reflect their interest demands.
In promoting land transfer, no one may ignore the existence of farmers and their interest demands, especially the interest demands of vulnerable groups. First, farmers' wishes must be fully respected. The primary principle followed in land transfer is voluntariness, and township governments and village-level organizations must not force transfer for any reason. Any act of land transfer that goes against farmers' wishes must be resolutely stopped and corrected. Second, farmers' maximum interests must be safeguarded. One of the main purposes of land transfer is to increase farmers' property income, so it is necessary, through study, training and organized practice, to strengthen farmers' bargaining capacity in land transfer negotiations and make them truly equal participants. Third, farmers' interest demands must be taken highly seriously. Attention must be paid to the special needs of special groups in rural areas; for example, some middle-aged and elderly farmers have already become accustomed to the traditional mode of agricultural work, and for them land not only means a source of income, but also a way of life and an emotional attachment. For these groups, consideration must not be based solely on the economic angle, and their wishes must be fully respected. Fourth, the market must play a decisive role. Land transfer is a process of optimizing resource allocation; whether land is transferred, how the price is determined, and how the form is chosen should all be decided independently by farmers according to market changes, and no organization or individual may intervene. Whichever method is used to transfer land, giving priority to safeguarding farmers' rights and interests should become an “iron rule”.
Promoting Land Transfer from the Perspective of Stabilizing Food Security
General Secretary Xi Jinping has stressed that China is a country with a large population, that solving the problem of feeding the people is always a top priority in governance, and that at all times the rice bowl must be firmly held in our own hands. Food security is the cornerstone of national security; without food security there is no national security. If we cannot ensure that the rice bowl is firmly held in our own hands, we will inevitably be controlled by others. The foundation for safeguarding national food security lies in cultivated land, and cultivated land is the very lifeblood of grain production. Farmers may become “de-agriculturalized”, but cultivated land must not be “de-agriculturalized”, and even less “de-grainized”. Otherwise it will endanger the red line of 1.8 billion mu of cultivated land and bring hidden dangers to national food security.
To stop the tendency toward “de-agriculturalization” and “de-grainization” in land transfer, strict use control must be implemented. First, a bottom line for land transfer must be set. No business entity that transfers land or leases cultivated land may arbitrarily change its use; anything that leases agricultural land must not engage in “de-agriculturalization”, and anything that leases cultivated land must not engage in “de-grainization”. Relevant departments must promptly formulate policy measures to stop the phenomenon of speculating in rural land in some places. Second, an access system must be established. On the one hand, industrial and commercial enterprises should be encouraged and guided to go to rural areas to develop modern farming and breeding suited to enterprise-style operation, focusing on agricultural product processing and distribution and agricultural social services; on the other hand, supervision and risk prevention for industrial and commercial enterprises leasing farmers' land must be strengthened, and industrial and commercial enterprises that do not meet the conditions and requirements must be prohibited from leasing and operating agricultural land. Third, a restraint system must be established. For example: for non-agricultural industrial and commercial enterprises leasing agricultural land, approval should be required; for those leasing large amounts of land, they may be required to have registered capital at least three times the annual lease fee of the transferred land, so as to prevent some land operators from arbitrarily changing land use, prevent irreversible damage to land quality, and prevent defaulting on farmers' income from land transfer.