Q: With rapid development of china's national economy,
the contradiction between land requirements for economic
construction projects and farmland has become increasingly serious.
Land acquisitions have the tendency of getting out of control in
some rural areas, and cases of illegal acquisition and infringement
upon farmers' rights and interests have been on the rise.?
What will the Chinese Government do to stop illegal acquisition and
to better protect the legal rights and interests of
farmers?
A: China is a big agricultural country, with 70 percent of its
total population living in rural areas and per capita cultivated
land far below the world average. In recent years, some local
governments have failed to handle properly the relationship between
urbanization and grain production. Rampant land acquisitions have
become a tendency and resulted in a sharp decrease of cultivated
land in some areas. Malpractices on the part of some local
governments and enterprises have also emerged. Statistics show that
the planned areas of economic development zones throughout the
country have reached 35,000 square kilometers. Over 43 percent of
the acquired farmland lies idle. Violations of the rights and
interests of farmers in land acquisitions have evolved into a
detrimental factor to social stability.
?
The Chinese Government has always attached great importance to the
comprehensive development and protection of land resources for
sustainable development of agriculture. In order to turn around the
tendency and to stop further decrease of cultivated land, the
Chinese Government has recently issued a decision on regulating
land acquisition and tightening land management, which stipulates
that the land requisition system should reformed and the procedures
rectified under the principles of “control the scale and protecting
farmers' legal rights and interests. The measures include:
?
Firstly, land planning and purpose of acquisition have bee put
under tighter control. Local governments at all levels are required
to make land use plans for construction projects, to tighten total
acreage control, and to ensure tat the acquired land is within the
planned amount and serve the planned purposes. In case the plan
needs to be adjusted to suit the requirements of social and
economic development, the adjustment must strictly follow legal
procedures. Now casual alternations are allowed once the purpose of
acquired land is designated.
?
Secondly, differentiating commercial purposes from public welfare
purposes in land acquisitions. Land compulsorily acquired under
administrative orders should only be used for the construction of
key public facilities, such as water conservancy, transportation,
national defense, compulsory education and public health. It should
not be used for commercial development. Land acquisition for such a
purpose should be conducted through purchase, lease or other market
means. The market should decide on the price.?
?
Thirdly, strictly controlling the scale. Land requisitions should
limited to extreme necessity.
Fourthly, improving compensation mechanism. Low compensation and
unreasonable distribution of added value of land are farmers' two
major complaints. They are also the main factors resulting in
rampant land acquisitions. The central government, therefore, has
adjusted land income distribution structure, set the minimum
compensation rate and relocation standards for farmers. It is also
taking measures to provide social security and long-term means of
livelihood for farmers whose land has been acquired.
China has worked very hard on the
development of ecological agriculture. Pictured are crop fields in
an artificial forest in Lankao County, Henan Province.
