China Daily:
This year marks the beginning of a new round of reform of rural affairs. And the land reform is a highlight of it. What are the key points and direction of the land reform in the future?
Han Changfu:
This year does indeed mark the start of a new round of reform of rural affairs. The No. 1 Central Document has arranged for its implementation. Handling relations between farmers and land remains the mainline of deepening rural reform. The land institutional reform should be used as a pivot to advance the rural reform. Generally speaking, the most important aspects are as follows.
First, the land contract relations should be stable and long-lasting. We should properly complete the land contract confirmation and registrations, grant the land contract certificates, and appropriately handle and resolve historical problems to place the land contract certificates in farmers' hands. Farmers' minds will be put to rest once these undisputable certificates are awarded. This work has been ongoing for five years since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and is nearly completed. We should accomplish the finishing touches this year. Meanwhile, research is underway to roll out supporting policies to extend the land contract rights for another 30 years after the second round of land contracts expires, which President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, announced in his report to the Party's 19th National Congress. We must act according to the central authority's requirements, and formulate supporting policies so as to ensure the new policies align with the old ones, achieving a smooth transition.
Second, we will continue to deepen rural land reforms in three aspects: land acquisition, market entrance of collectively-owned commercial land, and homestead institutional reform. The reform has been piloted for four years. We will review the sum of the pilot experience, and consolidate and expand reform achievements. As for those that have been successfully piloted, for instance the rural land appropriation and the market entrance of collectively-owned commercial construction land, we will improve the supporting policies after relevant laws are amended and promote the reform nationwide, in order to expedite the formation of a unified urban and rural construction land market.
We will continue to advance the reforms prudently, expand pilot reforms and enrich some reforms that have proven immature, such as the homestead institutional reform. For instance, we must explore effective ways to loosen control over rights to homestead and farmers' houses, so as to make better use of the homesteads and farmers' houses that have been left unused, thus attempting to increase farmers' income. We need to find methods to make that happen, as it is said there are many "hollow villages" with large numbers of unused homesteads and empty houses. Before that, we need to do some groundwork, for instance, organize investigation of homesteads and farmers' houses in these village to assess the basic information nationwide. We strive to finish this important work — the confirmation, registration and certification of usage rights for homesteads in village — by 2020.
Third, we must create new modes of business operations. We need to improve the legal, regulatory and policy systems to ensure the separation of the "three rights" regarding contracted land, and to cultivate two types of new agricultural business entities — the family farm and farmers' cooperative. We need to put policies in place to help the development of small farming households, to foster various kinds of social service organizations and to enhance the efficiency and improve the level of agricultural operations.
Of course, there are other tasks to be completed in the institutional reform of rural land. This reform is a sizeable process, so it must be advanced steadily and prudently. The No. 1 Central Document also stresses that the reform must defend the baseline, which means the rural land, which is collectively owned, should not be privatized; rural land should always be used for agriculture and farmers' interests, rather than for non-agricultural purposes; farmers' rights and interests over their land must be guaranteed, and giving up their contracted land and homesteads should not be made conditions for their becoming urban citizens. These baselines must be held. In brief, the new round of rural reform should be advanced with the deepening of land institutional reform, which can further release village's vitality. Thank you.
