Where is the way out for rural land transfer reform?
What we are going to discuss with you today is the direction of rural land transfer reform, namely, “where the path lies” for rural land transfer reform.
When talking about rural land transfer reform, one cannot avoid talking about the transformation of urbanization. Dr. Li Keqiang spoke about “people-centered” urbanization, and then went on to talk about the renovation of shantytowns and urban villages, as well as urban-rural integrated development. The rural land transfer reform discussed today by the author is explored in the context of new rural construction, or urban-rural integrated development. Rural land is mainly divided into agricultural land and construction land. Regarding agricultural land transfer reform, the author asks everyone to pay attention to three points: “family farms”, “agricultural professional cooperatives”, and “land trusts”.
The Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China mentioned “family farms” for the first time, which means that in the future there will be many family farm owners. With the reform of the household registration system, farmers in the future will be more of a profession, no longer a symbol of identity. Countries in Europe and America also practice the family farm system, and establishing companies is mainly to avoid inheritance tax. The family farm system is the agricultural production form most suitable for China, and it can also effectively guarantee the quality of agricultural products, but it cannot solve the problems of agricultural scale and industrialized agricultural operation. The state then mentioned “agricultural professional cooperatives”. When several family farms join together to form professional cooperatives, the situation is different. Regarding agricultural professional cooperatives, in 2007 the National People's Congress promulgated the Law of the People's Republic of China on Farmers' Professional Cooperatives, and Hunan Province also formulated the Measures of Hunan Province for Implementing the Law of the People's Republic of China on Farmers' Professional Cooperatives. The day before yesterday, nine ministries and commissions including the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Development and Reform Commission jointly issued the Opinions on Guiding and Promoting the Standardized Development of Farmers' Cooperatives, which shows the high-level attention paid to the development of cooperatives. Family farms are like small and micro enterprises, involving very few legal services. Professional cooperatives are like small and medium-sized enterprises, and perhaps the legal services are not complicated, but with rural reform and agricultural development, a large number of cooperatives will emerge in the future, and there will be a large market for legal services. “Land trusts” are a new model of land transfer. So far, there has not been a successful or mature case, and there is a lack of first-hand research materials. But land trusts, like internet finance, represent a direction and are worthy of everyone's in-depth and sustained attention and research. Given the length limitations, I will discuss the legal issues involved in these three issues with everyone one by one in the future.
Regarding the transfer reform of rural construction land, I will likewise raise three points: “direct market entry of commercial construction land”, “linked increase and decrease of urban and rural construction land”, and “direct market entry of homestead land”.
“Direct market entry of commercial construction land” means that, without going through state expropriation directly, the land can be directly used for industrial and commercial development, but real estate development is restricted. The difference from “direct market entry of homestead land” is that the former is construction land left over from township or village-run enterprises at the time, while the latter is farmers' homestead land. The former was already piloted by the state more than ten years ago. The “same rights, same price, same market” mentioned at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee refers to commercial construction land. The latter is widely traded in social reality, with the typical representative being “Zhenggezhuang Village in Beijing”, but in the past and for a long time in the future it will not be “legitimized”. Because it touches the government's cheese. The former touched it, but the amount of this part of land is not large; the latter's amount is too large, and the government will not open this loophole. Rural land transfer reform must balance the interests of the government, enterprises, and farmers in order to be sustainable and long-lasting. From current practice, the “linked increase and decrease of urban and rural construction land” is the plan most acceptable to all parties and can relatively balance the interests of all parties. What increases is state-owned construction land, and what decreases is rural construction land, mainly homestead land. After farmers live in concentrated settlements, the remaining homestead land is reclaimed as cultivated land, replacing state-owned construction land quotas. Relatively typical models include Zhejiang Jiaxing's “two separations and two exchanges” model, Tianjin's “homestead land for housing” model, Chengdu Wenjiang's “double abandonment” model, and Chongqing's “land ticket system”. In Hunan, similar projects I participated in include “Xunlong River Ecological Town” and “Taohuayuan Ancient Town”.
In Jiaxing's “two separations and two exchanges” plan, what Jiaxing did relatively well was that it did not deliberately drive farmers upstairs, nor deliberately carry out large-scale land transfer. It gave farmers more choice, and at the same time also strengthened employment and social security.
In Chengdu Wenjiang District's “double abandonment” model, Chengdu's ability to achieve double abandonment fundamentally lies in realizing household registration system reform, with no urban-rural household registration difference, and additionally establishing a unified urban-rural social security system. They walked in the forefront of the times.
In Tianjin's “homestead land for housing” model, from current practice, it is not as innovative and advanced as advertised. In essence, in order to satisfy the development land needs of Tianjin Binhai New Area, there is a suspicion of driving farmers upstairs.
In the construction of Xunlong River Ecological Town, in which the author participated, the core of its model is also “homestead land for housing”. Xunlong River has two explorations that are relatively good: it strives to achieve a balance of interests among the government, enterprises, and farmers, and Xunlong River is also very good at seeking preferential policies from governments at all levels, using government money to drive local infrastructure construction and improve the living and residential environment.
The Taohuayuan Ancient Town project, a project in my hometown, currently has quite a lot of controversy. But this project has at least two points worthy of affirmation: 1. What it does is tourism real estate, and the possibility of a ghost city appearing in the future is not great; 2. It has promoted the process of in-situ urbanization.
Chongqing's “land ticket” trading system is a model I relatively appreciate. Its fundamental point is that it broadened the trading channels for homestead land. Unlike Tianjin's homestead land for housing, which is a one-shot deal, it is closer to market transactions and gives farmers more choice.
Given the length limitations, Mr. Tuliujun will, over a period of time in the future, discuss and communicate with everyone in special topics on “family farms”, “professional cooperatives”, “land trusts”, “direct market entry of commercial construction land”, “linked increase and decrease of urban and rural construction land”, “small property rights housing”, and “analysis of the legal service market for land transfer”.