State Council vows tighter rules for farmers' land
Source: Xinhua/Shanghai Daily |
November 29, 2012, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE State Council has vowed to tighten laws on the expropriation of farmland, warning that the problem risks fuelling rural unrest and undermining food security in China.
"Rural land has been expropriated too much and too fast as industrialization and urbanization accelerate," it said after a meeting of China's Cabinet chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao.
"It not only affects stability in the countryside but also threatens grain security," it warned.
More reforms were needed and a better legal system set up to resolve the problem, including stricter regulations on farmland expropriation, the State Council said in a statement.
It passed a draft amendment altering rules on how to compensate farmers who lose their land.
The draft will be submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, for deliberations, the statement said.
The Cabinet also urged giving more priority to the countryside in efforts to boost investment and consumption to bolster a slowing economy.
The government must make efforts to beef up support for farmers and place more importance on rural development, its statement said.
Farmers in China do not directly own their fields. Instead, most rural land is owned collectively by a village, and farmers get leases that last for decades.
In theory, villagers can decide whether to sell or develop the land. In practice, however, officials usually decide. And, hoping to win investment, revenue and pay-offs, they often override the wishes of farmers.
Protests by farmers over land seizures have erupted in villages across the country in recent years, prompting calls for better protection of farmers' property rights to the land they have contracted.
In a keynote report to the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China earlier this month, President Hu Jintao pressed for reform of the land expropriation system and an increase in farmers' share of gains in land value.
"Rural land has been expropriated too much and too fast as industrialization and urbanization accelerate," it said after a meeting of China's Cabinet chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao.
"It not only affects stability in the countryside but also threatens grain security," it warned.
More reforms were needed and a better legal system set up to resolve the problem, including stricter regulations on farmland expropriation, the State Council said in a statement.
It passed a draft amendment altering rules on how to compensate farmers who lose their land.
The draft will be submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, for deliberations, the statement said.
The Cabinet also urged giving more priority to the countryside in efforts to boost investment and consumption to bolster a slowing economy.
The government must make efforts to beef up support for farmers and place more importance on rural development, its statement said.
Farmers in China do not directly own their fields. Instead, most rural land is owned collectively by a village, and farmers get leases that last for decades.
In theory, villagers can decide whether to sell or develop the land. In practice, however, officials usually decide. And, hoping to win investment, revenue and pay-offs, they often override the wishes of farmers.
Protests by farmers over land seizures have erupted in villages across the country in recent years, prompting calls for better protection of farmers' property rights to the land they have contracted.
In a keynote report to the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China earlier this month, President Hu Jintao pressed for reform of the land expropriation system and an increase in farmers' share of gains in land value.
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