"The standards of compensation for acquisition of farmland
should be raised, and the basic net of social security should cover
farmers who have lost their land," national lawmaker Liu Minghua
said Sunday.
Liu was among at least 200 legislators who have signed several
motions, submitted during the annual meeting of?the 10th
National People's Congress (NPC)?in Beijing, calling for
conscientious efforts to protect the interests of landless rural
residents.
Complaints by farmers that they were inadequately compensated or
lacked subsistence income after their land was taken have been on
the rise in recent years. At least 40 million farmers have lost
land to real estate development, industrial zones and other uses,
according to a Xinhua report.
The government has tightened screening of plans for development
zones of all types to stop disorderly and unauthorized acquisition
of farmland. It is working to ensure appropriate compensation for
expropriated or requisitioned land.
In many regions, when land is taken for non-agricultural
purposes it is usually the local governments, not the farmers, that
have the final say with regard to price and compensation, according
to Liu.
Citing his hometown of Chongqing
as an example, Liu said that on average, a farmer gets only 21,000
yuan (US$2,530) for compensation and resettlement fees.
"Calculated on urban consumption standards, that sum is just
enough for a little more than three years of living," he said. "Not
well-educated and short of skills, farmers often have a hard time
when the money runs out."
Li Yongzhong, a legislator from Guangdong
Province, pointed out that the current standards, based on a
guideline issued by the Ministry
of Land and Resources last November, set a compensation ceiling
of 30 times the average annual output of the arable land in the
previous three years.
The figure is usually a fraction of the value of the land when
its use rights are sold to third parties, according to Li.
But sometimes even this modest payment fails to reach farmers
quickly.
Liu suggested that the authorities enact implementation
regulations to ensure farmers have the right to collectively
bargain for compensation for requisitioned land. Local governments
should withdraw from the actual transaction process and serve as
impartial arbitrators. Farmers, when adequately compensated, could
be trained and use the money to develop other businesses.
Both Liu and Li proposed a "land for social security" mechanism
be piloted to make sure farmers who have lost farmland have access
to basic medical services and other social welfare, just as urban
residents do.
Chinese lawmakers have consistently spoken up for
farmers?who no longer have land, saying they need to be
supported. At last year's NPC session, 119 legislators called on
the authorities to address farmers' complaints.
Part of the outcome is a nationwide drive to clear the backlog
in compensation payments. By last November, 16.0 billion yuan
(US$1.9 billion), or 91.0 percent of the total amount, had been
paid to farmers, according to a February announcement by the
Standing Committee of the NPC.
(China Daily March 14, 2005)