Page 170 - 2017 White Paper
P. 170
7 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
Notable Policy Activity central government will also “enhance the supervision
of State-owned assets, as total assets of all State-farms
Better Land Use Rights for Farmers in China have already exceeded 1 trillion yuan (US$156
billion)”. He said that the total GDP of State-farms in 2015
New reforms announced in November 2013 allow is expected to reach 701 billion yuan, a year-on-year
“rural collectively-owned land, a legacy of the planned increase of 8 percent (Xu 2014).
economy, to be transferred, rented or pooled” but will
“stop short of giving commercial firms free rein to buy Ongoing Land Reform
land and will focus instead on creating bigger family
farms”, Reuters reports (Stanway and Niu 2013). Another Rural land reform continues to be an issue of great
condition of the purchase of collectively-owned land is importance to a great number of people in China. While
that “firms are only allowed to do modern farming and urban housing has been essentially privatized for more
livestock breeding, not real estate or tourism” (Ibid.). than a decade (although land still officially belongs to
the State), reform in rural areas — and particularly with
The move is reportedly part of the government’s regard to arable land — has been slower (The Economist
effort “to persuade families to stay in the countryside by 2008).
raising incomes, and the large-scale family farm has been
identified as the most effective method; each [of the In response to overzealous appropriation of agri-
country’s 877,000] family-owned farms earned 184,700 cultural land by localities, The Regulation on Protecting
yuan (US$30,300) in 2012, about ten times higher than Basic Farmland was enacted in 1994, with an amendment
the average rural household income” (Stanway and Niu in 1999. The regulation stipulates, basically, that
2013). The World Bank reports that “despite massive off- agricultural land (which is scarce to begin with) is not to
farm migration, rural population growth meant that be reassigned to industrial or commercial purposes, and
cultivated land per agricultural laborer has remained should neither be “left idle or deserted” (The Ministry of
fairly constant, increasing only from 0.35 hectares in 1978 Agriculture of China 2004). The Ministry of Agriculture
to 0.41 in 2008. Average Chinese farm holdings are well additionally noted that “in 2003, due to some tendency
under 1 hectare, far lower than the global average; the in some localities toward neglecting basic farmland
average farm in the United States is 300 times bigger protection in recent years, the Chinese Government
than in China” (World Bank 2014). issued The Circular on Further Measures to Implement
Strict Farmland Protection System”, in an oblique
Arguing against greater consolidation in the short- reference to the land appropriations by authorities
term,“researchers have said it was not suitable to develop looking to resell the land for profit, a significant cause of
farms on the scale of those in the United States, given social unrest in rural areas (Ibid.). The result of the circular
China’s huge population and the need to find work for was that“efforts have been made to rectify and straighten
450 million farmers still likely to live in the countryside by out various kinds of development zones, and resolutely
2030” (Stanway and Niu 2013). reverse any illegal establishment of development zones
and expansion of the areas the development zones
On December 1, 2015, the Chinese central government occupy” (Ibid.). Xinhua subsequently reported that “More
issued a guideline in a bid to push the transformation than 50,000 land dispute cases arose in 224 cities and
of State farms before 2020. A week after the national counties across the country from 2003 to March 2008”
government’s announcement, a senior official with (Xinhua 2009).
the Ministry of Agriculture, Yang Shaopin, in a news
conference, said that China will transform its 1,780 State The State Council also got involved, having issued
farms into “modern” agricultural market enterprises, The Circular of the State Council on Strengthening Land
even as he warned that this could be a “slow transitional Control (Guo Fa [2006] No. 31) in 2006, half-way through
process”. In a report by China Daily, the national guideline the period of study reported by Xinhua. The Wall Street
said that the reform “is intended to develop a number of Journal suggests that reform efforts are still necessary,
agricultural production bases for grain, cotton, sugar, milk, citing a Chinese Academy of Social Sciences report that
seeds and oil”. It also “aims to further raise the income of 65 percent of the estimated 187,000 “mass incidents”
workers, and improve infrastructure and public services (demonstrations or protests) in 2010 were related to land
available to the workers”. Mr. Yang further added that the disputes (Hanstad 2011).
170
Notable Policy Activity central government will also “enhance the supervision
of State-owned assets, as total assets of all State-farms
Better Land Use Rights for Farmers in China have already exceeded 1 trillion yuan (US$156
billion)”. He said that the total GDP of State-farms in 2015
New reforms announced in November 2013 allow is expected to reach 701 billion yuan, a year-on-year
“rural collectively-owned land, a legacy of the planned increase of 8 percent (Xu 2014).
economy, to be transferred, rented or pooled” but will
“stop short of giving commercial firms free rein to buy Ongoing Land Reform
land and will focus instead on creating bigger family
farms”, Reuters reports (Stanway and Niu 2013). Another Rural land reform continues to be an issue of great
condition of the purchase of collectively-owned land is importance to a great number of people in China. While
that “firms are only allowed to do modern farming and urban housing has been essentially privatized for more
livestock breeding, not real estate or tourism” (Ibid.). than a decade (although land still officially belongs to
the State), reform in rural areas — and particularly with
The move is reportedly part of the government’s regard to arable land — has been slower (The Economist
effort “to persuade families to stay in the countryside by 2008).
raising incomes, and the large-scale family farm has been
identified as the most effective method; each [of the In response to overzealous appropriation of agri-
country’s 877,000] family-owned farms earned 184,700 cultural land by localities, The Regulation on Protecting
yuan (US$30,300) in 2012, about ten times higher than Basic Farmland was enacted in 1994, with an amendment
the average rural household income” (Stanway and Niu in 1999. The regulation stipulates, basically, that
2013). The World Bank reports that “despite massive off- agricultural land (which is scarce to begin with) is not to
farm migration, rural population growth meant that be reassigned to industrial or commercial purposes, and
cultivated land per agricultural laborer has remained should neither be “left idle or deserted” (The Ministry of
fairly constant, increasing only from 0.35 hectares in 1978 Agriculture of China 2004). The Ministry of Agriculture
to 0.41 in 2008. Average Chinese farm holdings are well additionally noted that “in 2003, due to some tendency
under 1 hectare, far lower than the global average; the in some localities toward neglecting basic farmland
average farm in the United States is 300 times bigger protection in recent years, the Chinese Government
than in China” (World Bank 2014). issued The Circular on Further Measures to Implement
Strict Farmland Protection System”, in an oblique
Arguing against greater consolidation in the short- reference to the land appropriations by authorities
term,“researchers have said it was not suitable to develop looking to resell the land for profit, a significant cause of
farms on the scale of those in the United States, given social unrest in rural areas (Ibid.). The result of the circular
China’s huge population and the need to find work for was that“efforts have been made to rectify and straighten
450 million farmers still likely to live in the countryside by out various kinds of development zones, and resolutely
2030” (Stanway and Niu 2013). reverse any illegal establishment of development zones
and expansion of the areas the development zones
On December 1, 2015, the Chinese central government occupy” (Ibid.). Xinhua subsequently reported that “More
issued a guideline in a bid to push the transformation than 50,000 land dispute cases arose in 224 cities and
of State farms before 2020. A week after the national counties across the country from 2003 to March 2008”
government’s announcement, a senior official with (Xinhua 2009).
the Ministry of Agriculture, Yang Shaopin, in a news
conference, said that China will transform its 1,780 State The State Council also got involved, having issued
farms into “modern” agricultural market enterprises, The Circular of the State Council on Strengthening Land
even as he warned that this could be a “slow transitional Control (Guo Fa [2006] No. 31) in 2006, half-way through
process”. In a report by China Daily, the national guideline the period of study reported by Xinhua. The Wall Street
said that the reform “is intended to develop a number of Journal suggests that reform efforts are still necessary,
agricultural production bases for grain, cotton, sugar, milk, citing a Chinese Academy of Social Sciences report that
seeds and oil”. It also “aims to further raise the income of 65 percent of the estimated 187,000 “mass incidents”
workers, and improve infrastructure and public services (demonstrations or protests) in 2010 were related to land
available to the workers”. Mr. Yang further added that the disputes (Hanstad 2011).
170
