BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Communist Party of
China (CPC) Central Committee issued a landmark policy document on Sunday as a
guideline to further rural reform and development.
LIBERALIZING FARMLAND
USE
One of the biggest moves was to allow farmers to
"lease their contracted farmland or transfer their land use right" to boost the
scale of operation for farm production and provide funds for them to start new
businesses.
"This breakthrough is necessary," said Xu Xianglin,
an economics department professor at the Party School of the Central Committee
of the CPC. "It meets the need of industrialization and urbanization in the
current stage."
According to the full text of the document, markets
for the lease of contracted farmland and transfer of farmland usage rights shall
be set up and improved to allow farmers to sub-contract, lease, exchange and
swap their land-use rights, or joined share-holding entities with their
farmland.
Such transfers of land-use rights must be voluntarily
participation by farmers, with adequate payment and in accordance with the law,
the CPC Central Committee said.
In the past, however, farmland was collectively owned
and meted out to farmers in long term leasing contracts.
Some experts said the new policy on land use could
help absorb capital to the countryside so as to speed up modernization in
agriculture, and accelerate the process of urbanization with more farmers going
to seek jobs in cities.
PUSHING RURAL-URBAN
INTEGRATION
While anti-corruption has always been the focus of
the central government's work, the CPC has also pledged to balance urban and
rural development and push the integration process of these areas.
Comprehensive planning would be conducted in fields
including industrial development, infrastructure construction, public service as
well as employment, with the needs of both rural and urban areas taken into
account.
According to the new document, the government would
endeavor to optimize industrial structure in rural areas, foster enterprises
owned by villages and townships and channel capital and talent to the
countryside.
The government would also help build the human
resources market to help farmers go to cities for work, and migrants to start
their careers in villages. It vowed to enhance safeguarding the rights of
migrant workers, ensuring them the same wages and benefits in term of their
children's education, public health and housing as citizens.
Li Chenggui, a research fellow with the Center for
Chinese Agricultural Policy of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was supportive.
He said the Ministry of Agriculture statistics showed
that in China there were currently about 126 million migrant workers away from
their hometown and that most were having difficulty becoming residents of
cities.
Migrant workers are always called a "vulnerable
group" in facing wage arrears, a lack of social security and facing prejudice,
among others. They are also blamed, usually unfairly, for causing social
problems.
"We couldn't have their farmland-use rights
effectively transferred if they don't become (urban) residents," Li said.
BETTER LIFE FOR
FARMERS
Apart from these measures, the document also
underscored food safety, the establishment of a modern agricultural industrial
system and the modernization of rural finances as well as security systems.
"There is an old saying in China, 'food is as
essential as the heaven for people,'" said Ke Bingsheng, the China Agricultural
University president who previously worked for the Ministry of Agriculture.
"That's why so much importance was attached to issues
involving agriculture, farmers and rural areas," he said.
In the past, the CPC Central Committee plenary
sessions always stressed agricultural issues, the milestone being the third
plenary session of the 11th CPC Central Committee in 1978 that put forward the
policy of reform and opening up.
China currently boasts 950 million registered
farmers, with 750million living in the countryside. But the income gap between
this majority and urban residents has kept widening over the years.
In 2007, the income of urban citizens was more than
three times that of farmers, historically, the biggest gap.
In March, the central government allocated 562.5
billion yuan (82.2 billion U.S. dollars) as a budget related to agriculture,
rural areas and farmers. This was a year-on-year increase of 130.7billion yuan,
said Premier Wen Jiabao in his work report at the opening of the first session
of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC), the top legislature.
"Now that China has achieved fast development, it is
time that farmers, who made great contribution to the economic miracle, share
the fruit with (urban) citizens," said Professor Xu Xianglin of the Party
School.
Research fellow Li said "our ultimate goal is to have
some farmers become citizens, while the rest live a life no worse than the
former."
BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Communist Party of
China (CPC) issued a landmark policy document on Sunday to allow farmers to
"lease their contracted farmland or transfer their land-use right" to boost the
scale of operation for farm production and provide funds for them to start new
businesses.
The Decision on Major Issues Concerning the
Advancement of Rural Reform and Development was approved by the CPC Central
Committee on Oct. 12 at a plenary session. Full story
BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Communist Party of
China (CPC) reiterated on Sunday it would continue opening up the country's
agriculture sector.
In a document unveiled by the CPC Central Committee,
the Party said it would encourage labor-intensive and technology-intensive
exports and allow moderate imports that were in short supply in the domestic
market.Full story
BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- China will take multiple
measures to support rural economic and social development to realize a balanced
growth between its rural and urban areas, according to a Communist Party of
China (CPC) Central Committee decision here on Sunday.
Comprehensive planning will be conducted in fields
including industrial development, infrastructure construction and public
service, as well as employment, with the needs of both rural and urban areas
taken into account. Full story
BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Communist Party of
China (CPC) vowed on Sunday to improve its leadership in the country's vast
rural area to carry out smooth reform and boost development in the region.
Efforts were needed to constantly improve the CPC's
leadership in dealing with agriculture work, according to a landmark policy
document published by the CPC Central Committee. Full story
BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Communist Party
(CPC) plans to build a market-oriented industrial system for the country's
agriculture sector with a necessary method of technological progress.
In a lengthy document unveiled by the CPC Central
Committee on Sunday, the Party said it would lead infrastructure construction of
the agricultural process, circulation and transport to the places that needed it
most.Full story
BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua)
-- China must make unremitting efforts to guarantee the country's grain security
at all times, a policy paper published by the Communist Party of China (CPC)
Central Committee said on Sunday.
The Decision on Major Issues Concerning the
Advancement of Rural Reform and Development was approved by the CPC Central
Committee on Oct. 12 at a plenary session. Full story
BEIJING, Oct. 19
(Xinhua) -- The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on Sunday set
the direction for establishing a modern rural financial system in effort to
boost the rural economy.
The guidance was made in a document approved by the
committee on Oct. 12 at a plenary session. Full story
BEIJING, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- China should pay more
attention to its grain security in rural reform, said Jia Qinglin, the country's
top political advisor, here on Saturday.
It should be a top priority to maintain grain
production when the country develops modern agriculture, said Jia, chairman of
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee,
when the third meeting of the CPPCC National Committee's Standing Committee
concluded here. Full story
BEIJING, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central
Committee on Sunday approved a decision on major issues concerning rural reform
and development at the close of a four-day plenum.
Hu Jintao, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee,
delivered a work report at the Third Plenary Session of the 17th CPC Central
Committee, which was held from Oct. 9 to 12 in Beijing.
BEIJING, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- China's senior political
advisors convened here on Wednesday to discuss the new Party decision on rural
reform and advice on the issue.
During the four-day third meeting of the Standing
Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National
Committee, political advisors were expected to carefully review the decision
made at the third Plenary Session of the 17th Communist Party of China (CPC)
Central Committee that closed on Sunday, said Jia Qinglin, the CPPCC National
Committee chairman who presided over the meeting.
BEIJING, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- China's top decision makers
said on Sunday that the country had set a goal to double the per capita income
of rural residents by 2020, based on the 2008 level.
The goal was part of the decision made at the close of the third Plenary Session
of the 17th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, which focused on
issues concerning rural reform and development.
BEIJING, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- The 17th
Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) started its third
plenary session on Thursday to discuss important changes in rural reform and
development policies.
A draft of the Central Committee decision on
major issues concerning rural reform and development would be deliberated at the
four-day meeting, said a statement issued after the session opening.
BEIJING, Oct. 19
(Xinhua) -- The Communist Party of China (CPC) issued a policy document on
Sunday urging for the improved social welfare enjoyed by the country's 900
million rural population. Full story
BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- China's rural reform and
development faces many difficulties and challenges, said the policy paper issued
on Sunday by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.
Despite the ongoing reform in rural areas and
increasing participation in global cooperation and competition, many problems,
especially deep-seated ones caused by urban and rural inequalities, still exist,
the paper said. Full story
