Rural Land Management Rights Transfer Invigorates Agricultural Development
He Xiaoying, who lives in Dadingqiao Village, Dongpo District, Meishan City, Sichuan Province, returned home to start a business after working away from home for many years. But after returning to her hometown, for a time she could not find abusiness project, "I only have a few mu of land, and it is too hard to make a fortune; going to the county town to do business is also without connections."
"As farmers, what we are best at is still farming." The local strawberries are juicy and tender, and have a good market in Chengdu and other nearby large cities. Aiming at this business opportunity, He Xiaoying mobilized capable people in the village, transferred more than 100 mu of land, and established a strawberry cooperative. Now her income has doubled.
He Xiaoying's success benefited from the liberalization of land management rights. From the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee to the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee, the policy framework has been continuously clarified: stabilize the rural land contracting relationship, improve the method of separating land ownership rights, contract rights, and management rights, advance the orderly transfer of land management rights in accordance with the law, and build a policy system for cultivating new types of agricultural operating entities.
Liberalizing land management rights further unleashes rural productivity. By the end of 2015, among the country's 230 million contracted-land rural households, about 66 million households had transferred land to a greater or lesser extent. Nationwide, the area of contracted cultivated land under household management that was transferred reached 443 million mu, accounting for 33.3%.
Various new types of agricultural operating entities are emerging across the vast rural landscape. The three-dimensional and composite modern agricultural operating system has increased the degree of intensification, specialization, organization, and socialization of agricultural production and operation, injecting more lasting vitality into the rural basic operating system. According to statistics, China now has 878,000 family farms; more than 1.5 million farmer cooperatives registered in accordance with the law, with participating farmer households exceeding 100 million, accounting for 41.9% of the total number of farmer households; and 354,000 various agricultural industrialization operating organizations, including 126,000 leading enterprises in agricultural industrialization.
To liberalize rights, rights must first be confirmed. Measuring land, confirming, public announcement, issuing certificates... the work of confirming land management rights continues to advance, and farmers' land has a new "identity card." By the end of March this year, 2,434 counties, 26,000 townships and towns, and 438,000 villages across the country had carried out the work of confirming and issuing certificates for land contractual management rights, truly giving farmers a "reassurance pill" for confident investment and confident transfer.
To liberalize rights, transfers must be standardized. At present, all localities are stepping up efforts to build a land management rights market trading system with smooth transfers and strict protection. A transfer service system with service stations in villages, transfer centers in townships and towns, and trading markets in counties and cities has taken initial shape. There are 1,324 land transfer trading markets at or above the county (city) level, and 17,268 township land transfer service centers.
The reform of the rural land system is steadily advancing. As a new highlight in the new institutional arrangements, liberalizing land management rights adds new momentum and brings new vitality to the new development of China's "three rural" cause.