Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs： After the expiration of the second round of land contract, insist on extending the contract and not disturb the redistribution.
BEIJING, Nov. 28 (Xinhua)-Han Changfu, director of the Central Agricultural Office and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said today that after the second round of land contracting expires, the principle of extending the contract should be adhered to, and the contracted land should not be disrupted and subdivided to ensure that the original contracted land of the vast majority of farmers continues to remain stable.
Data Map: Tens of thousands of acres of rice fields in Liujiang, Guangxi have a bumper harvest, just like a golden carpet laid in the mountains. Photo by Zhang Zikai
On November 28th, the State Council Press Office held a press conference, and invited Han Changfu, director of the Central Agricultural Office and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and Wu Hongyao, member of the Party Group of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and director of the Secretariat Bureau of the Central Agricultural Office, to interpret the Opinions of the State Council, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Maintaining the Stability and Long-term Invariance of Land in contract relationship, and answered questions from reporters.
Han Changfu said that the land relationship is the most basic production relationship in rural areas, and the basic management system with the land system as the core is the cornerstone of the party’s policy in rural areas. Since the reform and opening-up, China has insisted on household contract management of land and kept contract relationship stable, which laid the institutional foundation for solving the problem of eating and maintaining the long-term stability in rural areas.
Recently, the "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Keeping the Land in contract relationship Stable and Long-term Invariant" was released, which clarified the basic direction of consolidating and improving the household contract management system and the basic principles of maintaining the long-term stability of the land in contract relationship. It is a major declaration on rural land policy, and it is an important system design that not only manages the present but also the long-term, which can be said to be "one move and one hundred shakes".
Han Changfu said that the publication of the Opinions is of great significance and far-reaching influence. Stabilizing land contract relationship for a long time, fully protecting farmers’ land contractual rights and interests, and improving the rural land contractual management system will not only help to enhance farmers’ confidence in developing production and give them a "reassurance", but also help to promote rural land circulation, develop moderate scale management, and also help to ensure long-term stability in rural areas.
Han Changfu pointed out that the Opinions clarified the long-lasting policy connotation, which can be summarized as "two invariants and one stability":
— — Keep the basic system of collective ownership of land and household contract management unchanged for a long time, and ensure that farmers collectively exercise land ownership effectively and collective members enjoy land contract rights equally;
— — Keep the basic right of farmers to contract collective land according to law unchanged for a long time, and family management occupies a basic position in agricultural production and management; Members of rural collective economic organizations have the right to contract collective land according to law, and no organization or individual can deprive or illegally restrict it.
— — To maintain the stability of farmers’ contracted land, farmers’ families are the legal subjects of land contract management, and the employer and other economic organizations or individuals may not adjust their contracted land illegally. After the expiration of the second round of land contract, we should adhere to the principle of extending the contract, and we must not disrupt and subdivide the contracted land to ensure that the original contracted land of the vast majority of farmers will remain stable.
The 19th National Congress proposed that the second round of contracting should be extended for another 30 years after its expiration. This time, the Opinions were further clarified. After the expiration of the second round of land contracting, it will be extended for another 30 years, and the rural land contract relationship has remained stable for 75 years since the first round of contracting. This is an important measure to implement "long-term invariance" and is also a concrete manifestation.
Han Changfu pointed out that the next step is to implement the requirements of the Central Committee’s Opinions, adhere to the stability and long-term change of land contract relationship, stabilize the basic management system, respect farmers’ dominant position, do a good job in the registration and certification of contracted land ownership and a new round of contract extension, and provide institutional guarantee for implementing the rural revitalization strategy and accelerating agricultural and rural modernization.