Deputies to the 10th National People's Congress (NPC)
are calling for an increase in compensation to help farmers who
lose their land to construction projects. However, the farmers
themselves prefer a land-leasing policy to better protect their
rights.
Land disputes are among the most common problems in the
countryside with many farmers losing their most essential resource
to the construction of factories, roads or other general
infrastructure projects.
In east China's
Zhejiang Province such disputes have been in decline since 2003
when the provincial government put in place a transparent land use
system, introduced a social insurance scheme and provided training
opportunities for farmers.
"To reform the land use policy and improve the process are the
key measure to protect the livelihoods of farmers," said Wang
Jinsong, director of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Land
and Resources. He will make the proposal to revise the Land
Administration Law.
After farmers are informed of the exact use of their lands,
open hearings will be held in villages where farmers may bring
their disputes over compensation or continue negotiations with land
users.
The annual income of the land is the basic valuation measure
under the Land Administration Law with farmers usually being
compensated five to eight times the value of the land's
production.
Farmers who lose their land can get assistance from the village
and provincial government who each contribute about one-third to
the social insurance scheme that will pay these farmers at
least 200 yuan (US$25) monthly when they reach retirement age.
But some in farming communities have criticized the measures as
being just a 'stopgap' that will not resolve their worries. "Once
the land is expropriated and the money runs out we'll not have
enough land left for future generations," said NPC deputy Cheng
Yangzhen, a farmer from Cixi of Zhejiang.
Cheng said farmers prefer to lease their land for a set term --
10 or 20 years -- or they may become shareholders by investing in
developments built on their land.
"The best solution," said Cheng, "is to clearly identify the
rights of the farmers."
(China Daily March 7, 2006)