Rural Land Rights Confirmation Should Come First, Abolition of Household Registration Differences Later
China's renowned economist Li Yining delivered a speech on December 8 at St. Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance titled “China's Economic Reform and Development,” analyzing issues including the middle-income trap, China's income distribution problems, rural land rights confirmation, the merger of the two household registration systems, prospects for rural China, and state-owned enterprise reform.
When answering a reporter's question about the relationship between abolishing the rural household registration system and farmers' previously held land, Li Yining said, “Based on what I learned from investigations and visits in Zhejiang and other provinces, I believe land rights confirmation should come first, and the abolition of household registration differences should come later. The abolition of household registration differences should advance together with the progress of urbanization.”
⟦NL> Li Yining said, “Farmers' land rights confirmation is the most important thing. First, clarify the certificates for the right to use homestead land, the right to operate contracted land, and the ownership of homestead housing, then, as urbanization advances, the household registration system will gradually be merged into one.”
Li Yining believes that after land rights confirmation, farmers will have more sources of income. Farmers' land can be used for planting and breeding, or leased out; houses can be rented out; and going out to work can all become sources of income. He cited the example of Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province, where the urban-to-rural income ratio changed from 3.1 to 1 to 1.9 to 1 before and after land rights confirmation.
Li Yining said that in the future, being a farmer will no longer be an identity, but an occupation. In the future, China's agricultural practitioners will be farm owners, farmer cooperatives, and agricultural enterprises that truly understand agricultural technology, and agricultural planting and production will follow a path of large-scale operation.