Rural Land Rights in China: Evolution and Case Studies

Constant divisions of rural land rights and contract renegotiations are the hallmark of China’s collective ownership system.Rural land ownership,property and operation systems in China have experienced four stages of evolution:(i)The People’s Communes,which served administrative and economic functions,exercised integrated collective land ownership,property,and operation rights.(ii)Under the system of“threetier ownership with production teams as basic accounting units,”production teams exercised the ownership right over land plots with greater autonomy and were responsible for organizing farm work.(iii)The household contract system has entitled farmers to claim surplus products and turned farm households into the basic unit of agricultural production.Subsequently,the reform of collective ownership has further enhanced farmers’contract rights and separated their operation rights from contract rights.The separation of rural land ownership,contract and operation rights marks a top-down design of the structure of China’s rural land rights after the collective ownership system and the reform of household contract system.By recognizing separate contract and operation rights without changing collective ownership,the separation aims to protect rural land contract and operation rights in accordance with the law.As in the four case studies,Chongzhou,Songjiang,Meitan and Liupanshui have experienced a restructuring of collective ownership,contract and operation rights.Their experience foretells complexities in the future evolution of rural land rights in China.

Security of Land Rights in Rural China:Facts and Trends

[Objective] This study aimed to demonstrate the current status and variation trend of the land insecurity in rural China in recent years. [Method] In the late 2011, we had conducted a systematical survey in 24 villages of two provinces including Jiangsu Province and Shaanxi Province. [Result] Survey results suggest enormous unbalance at the village level in the rights that household have been extended. In some villages, farmers seem to hold relatively long-term tenure and most of the rights, where there are less land expropriations and reallocations. Even if some land expropriations or reallocations occur in these villages, a meeting with villagers would be hold, and the villagers would be given the rights to discuss the process of the land expropriation or reallocation. In other villages, on the other hand, the land expropriation or reallocation is more frequent, and the villagers have no right to decide the process of the land expropriation or reallocation, their land prop- erty right are limited and rather unstable, while the village cadres and government at a higher level have coercive power on the land. When land expropriations or reallocations occur in these villages, no villager meeting would be hold. With the extension of time, more and more land expropriations occur, with increasingly involved area. In addition, the frequency of land reallocation is reduced, and the affected areas become smaller and smaller sis for land property rights system [Conclusion] This study had laid the theoretical bareform in rural China.

Social and Environmental Impacts of Maryland Oil Palm Plantations on Forests,Biodiversity,and Community Livelihoods in Liberia

Liberia holds 44.5% of the remaining portion of the Upper Guinean Rainforest in West Africa,which is home to critically endangered forest elephants and western chimpanzees.The forests are of vital importance for the livelihoods of millions of West Africans and provide key ecosystem services of local and global importance for food systems transformation and agroecology.Liberia’s efforts toward land reform through legislation and policies recognise communities’rights to own and manage their customary lands and resources.These include the National Forestry Reform Law of 2006,the Community Rights Law Concerning Forest Lands of 2009,and the Land Rights Act of 2018,and more.In May 2022,a program team from the Sustainable Development Institute(SDI)-Friends of the Earth Liberia researched the social and environmental impacts of Maryland Oil Palm Plantations(MOPPs)in Liberia.Twenty-three(23)key informant interviews(KIIs)and 10 focus group discussions(FGDs)were conducted in seven communities in and around the MOPP.They included farmers,contract workers,MOPP staff,local authorities,women and youth leaders,the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA)Inspector,the Civil Society Head,and the Gender Coordinator of Maryland County.The team cross-checked information with formal documents as much as possible and took photographs and global positioning system(GPS)locations of areas of deforestation,pollution,and conflict.The team also used observation to monitor environmental pollution,such as affluent into water bodies and planting oil palm in wetlands.The team used narrative analysis and geospatial landscape analysis to analyze the data.The research finds that land conflict and deforestation have several negative impacts on communities.MOPP has not respected land tenure rights or followed Free Prior and Informed Consent(FPIC)standards,including resettlement without reparation and destruction of farms and old towns without(sufficient)compensation or restitution.During MOPP land acquisition and clearance,communities experienced the loss of their farms and the identification of villages as“village de squatters”,leading to restricted access to farmland,heightened food insecurity,and reduced income from cash crops to support families.MOPP destroyed high conservation value areas and destroyed secondary forest regrowth,which affected important biodiversity areas.MOPP is one of the four large-scale industrial palm oil plantations in Liberia in Maryland County.It has a palm oil mill in a joint venture with Golden Veroleum Liberia(GVL).Its 2011 concession agreement includes 8,800 hectares for industrial palm oil plantations.

Impacts of Changes in Structure of Rural Land Property Rights on Agricultural Performance

In the reform process of the rural land property rights system,the incentive mechanism of the rural land property rights system has a crucial impact on the production activities of rural economic entities.Due to the different rights structures of the property rights system in different social and economic development stages,the land rights and interests enjoyed by rural economic subjects are different,and the degree of incentives for farmers is also different.This difference in incentives affects farmers investment in agricultural production factors,which in turn affects agricultural performance.This paper analyzes the incentive impacts of the structure of rural land property rights on the changes of farmers land rights and agricultural performance since the founding of the People s Republic of China,in order to further deepen the reform of the land system,protect the rights and interests of farmers,promote the modernization of agriculture and rural areas,and explore the realization form and operation mechanism of the rural collective land system in the new era.

Reform Paths of Rural Land Property Rights System in the Context of Agricultural Modernization

The reform of rural land property rights system can promote large-scale and intensive agricultural production,improve the quality of laborers,improve agricultural production efficiency,increase farmers'income,and effectively promote the development of agricultural modernization.In the context of the reform of the"separation of three powers",the rural land property rights system still has problems in terms of ownership,use rights,disposal rights,and income rights,which affect the healthy development of agricultural modernization.In this situation,it is necessary to further clarify the subject of rural land ownership,thoroughly improve the right to use rural land,vigorously improve the right to dispose of rural land,effectively protect the right to benefit from rural land,and deeply promote the reform of the rural land property rights system in order to effectively promote the development of agricultural modernization.

The role of land as the central piece to sustainable food systems:Lessons learned from Portugal national food-related policies

This paper discusses to what extent land is considered in food-related policies from a systemic perspective.Based on existing literature and international agendas priorities,we argue that access to and preservation of land for food along the food chain play a major role in sustainable food systems.To further explore this argument,we address the following question:Where does land stand in sectorial and national food-related policies?The mul-tiple dimensions and implications of food systems and the international agenda’s priorities namely the“Right to adequate Food”,“Food Sovereignty”and the“Right to Land”,were used as our conceptual framework.To work out how land is being considered in food sectorial policies,both quantitative and qualitative methods were applied to examine ten Portuguese national food-related policies.Results are showing a lack of consideration for land access and land preservation,needed all along the food chain to build a national sustainable food system.On the other hand,there is a gap between current grassroots priorities international agendas and food-related national policies.Such a situation strongly suggests that building a sustainable food system needs a clear food territorial perspective,still neglected,and shifting from sectorial policies towards a more integrated food system approach,that will include land as a central piece.

The Transfer of Land Contractual Management Rights in Ethnic Village--A Case Study of Ya'ergou Village in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

Based on field survey in Ya'ergou Village,Yuanzhou District,Guyuan City,the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region,we analyze the status quo of the transfer of land contractual management rights in this village,and study the basic information,form,characteristics,and problems concerning the transfer of land contractual management rights in this nationality village.Then corresponding countermeasures are put forward for promoting the transfer of land contractual management rights in ethnic village as follows:strengthening the publicity of the policy in order to improve farmers' ideological understanding;raising the rent in order to promote the transfer of the land contractual management rights;diverting the governmental investment to the talented people within village;consolidating management and resolving disputes in the transfer timely and effectively.

Research on Readjustments of Land Property Rights in Comprehensive land management A Case Study in Project Area of Fan zhen comprehensive land management in Tai＇ anCity

Research purpose： The paper studies readjustments of land property rights which practice in the project area of Fan Zhen comprehensive land management in Tai＇ an City. According to the study make reasonable suggestions, for the similar areas of readjuslments of land property rights provide experience. Research Methods： Investigating method and contrastive analysis method. Results： The right of the project a^ea to an adjustment measures properly, and has achieved good economic benefits, social benefits and ecological benefits. Research Conclusions： Developing the new rural consu＇uction the problem from the social, economic and environmental field, effectively protect the fundamental interests of farmers to get sustainable development.

Analysis on Farmers' Land Right Protection

Land is the fundamental income sources of farmers. However, farmers stay at disadvantaged statge in the political, economic and social aspects. Their land is exploited and occupied, which facilitates the rapid development of economy, as well as brings the gap between the poor and the rich and the inharmonious disputes. The necessity for protecting the land right of farmers under the new situation is expounded, covering the necessity of carrying out the relevant agricultural policies; the necessity of improving rural economic status and narrowing the gap between urban and rural areas; the necessity of reducing land disputes and constructing harmonious society. The violation of farmers' land rights is analyzed from two aspects. The first one is the violation of farmers' land right in land tenure section, which includes the lack of ecological compensation system the lack of contract operation right; the second one is the violation of farmers' land right in land transfer section, including the absence of land requisition system, substandard land contract and land transfer and the limitation of house stead circulation; the third one is the vacant of land development right affects farmers' share of enjoying the added value of land. The countermeasures for protecting farmers' land rights are put forward. The first one is clarify land property; the second one is normalize and perfect land requisition system; the third one is appropriately loosen rural land transfer policies; the fourth one is establish ecological compensation and land development right compensation system.

A Contribution to a Better Understanding of Global Land Grabbing＇s Impact on Employment and Environmental Threats

In the last two decades, the global interest on farmland grew at a remarkable pace. As a consequence, million hectares of land exchanged hands. The ways the transfers happened combined with their geographic concentration in Sub-Saharian Africa, have earned the phenomenon the name of ＂land grab＂. The agricultural sector considered a ＂sunset industry＂ when commodities prices were declining, is now attractive to financial investors. These foreign investments may be good as they may improve agricultural productivity or instead bad as they may benefit only financial investors. Some results in terms of environmental and local communities＇ worsening conditions have already emerged. This paper aims to investigate what drives the big size transfers of land, to empirically estimate their effects in terms of local employment and to assess the environmental effects produced by the rapid transformation in the use of vast amount of land in terms of CO2 emissions. It is also proposed to use the estimation in terms of local employment impact as a way of distinguishing between foreign direct investment and land grabbing.

Problems in Rural Land Management Right Confirmation Pilots and the Countermeasures

The affirmation registration and certification of land contracted management right are the essential conditions for the effective promotion of land management right circulation and the development of agricultural moderate scale management. However, the following problems are found in the process of the pilot work： insufficient propaganda work, inconsistent recognition of affirmation registration work, low enthusiasm of grass-roots work; lack of unified regulations, each company working on their own; requiring large amount of manpower and resources for rural land contracted management rights, and severe shortage of national and municipal inputs; incomplete land ownership information and lack of marks between land plots, leading to resolving difficulty of the disputes; urgent need of strengthening subsequent work, untimely adjustment of related policies. Therefore, it needs to intensify propaganda, so that farmers can know the land right confirmation registration and certifi- cation, and recognize its importance; unify the introduction of job specification and results storage standard, making it convenient for the unified use of the results unified; set up special funds, and make experiments first in the areas with better economic conditions; establish arbitral institutions for land ownership disputes; earnestly make great effort to the supporting and subsequent work for right confirmation registration, and give full play to the role of land registration results.

Analysis of the Price of Development Right of Agricultural Land in China

According to the viewpoints of predecessors, we define the signification of development right of agricultural land and connotation of the price of development right of agricultural land as follows: the development right of agricultural land is to change the former use nature of agricultural land, so as to become the right of construction use land; the price of development right of agricultural land refers to the price that is difference between the price of construction use land, and summation of the price of former agricultural land, the expense of developing agricultural land, the expense of management, and profit, after the agricultural land is transformed into non-agricultural construction use land. By using the principle of economics of land, this paper expounds the generation mechanism of the price of development right of agricultural land, namely the diversity of agricultural land use and the change of demand and supply of development right of agricultural land. The influencing factors of the development right of agricultural land are analyzed, and there are mainly the price of agricultural land, the price of construction use land, the contradiction of demand and supply of urban land, land use, and agricultural land.

Application and Thinking of Right Species for Right Land in Urban Plant Landscaping

With the acceleration of eco-garden city construction,tree resources have been increasingly applied in landscape construction.Combining with the authors' work experience,plant landscaping cases in domestic and foreign cities,this paper analyzed the concept of right species for right land and problems in plant landscaping,and took specific cases to explore the application of right species for right land,in order to provide references for the reasonable utilization of indigenous tree resources.

Developing the Commons: Models of Rural Land Trust in China

In recent years,experiments on land trusts(xin tuo)have been made in the rural areas of China.To better understand such practice,this research identifies four case studies based on their operational structures and divides them into government-led models and market-led models.The government-led models include the Yiyang Model in Hunan Province,and the Longgang Model in Hubei Province.The market-led models include the Suzhou Model in Anhui Province,and the Golden Field Series Model in Jiangsu Province.This paper compares their profit-sharing mechanisms with specific attention given to the incentives for the villagers.Findings suggest that the villagers’profits are limited in both models.The government-led models concern less about profits but more on reusing the desolated agricultural land.The market-led models are profit-driven therefore tend to exclude the villagers from the profit-sharing process.

Interregional compensation for farmland protection:From the perspective of farmland allocation optimization

Interregional compensation for farmland protection(IRCFP)is a policy instrument for encouraging farmland protection through interregional fiscal transfer payments.Previous practices and studies on IRCFP have generally determined the payers and recipients of compensation based on the present distribution of farmland,and the compensation standards did not combine farmland development right value with farmland deficit and surplus,resulting in insignificant effects on farmland protection and even policy failure.Therefore,in this study,we proposed an interregional compensation mechanism for farmland protection based on farmland allocation optimization by considering 31 provincial-level regions in China.The results showed that(1)the determination of farmland surplus or deficit areas based on farmland allocation optimization met the regional construction land demand from the perspective of achieving food security.(2)The combination of the compensation value standard and cropland deficit and surplus had a positive effect on farmland protection.(3)Interregional compensation for farmland protection based on farmland allocation optimization can coordinate economic development,farmland protection,and ecological conservation.Finally,we discussed the rationality of interregional compensation for farmland protection based on farmland allocation optimization and designed the operation mechanism of IRCFP.

Practice Mode and Value Research of Reform of Rural Collective Economy Property Right System in Beijing Rural-urban Continuum

In the research, reform of rural collective economy property right system in Beijing rural-urban continuum was explored in terms of background, cause, pro- cess and practice modes by surveying and interviewing, and the value of system reform on urbanization in rural areas was illustrated from the perspective of farmers who lose lands. The results showed that since reform and opening-up, disadvan- tages of collective economy property are always the fundamental cause of reform; rural-urban contradiction produced from rapid urbanization makes the reform much more urgent; shareholding co-operative system is the essence of reform of collective economy property right system. Rural collective economy property right system in Beijing includes stock-assets quantification shareholding co-operative system, share- capitalization of contractual land management right, farmers as shareholders by investment, and resource and capital mode, with advantages and disadvantages respectively. The common character should be noticed is that all modes have share on contractual right of land, indicating the core of the reform of property system lies in asset quantification and stock quota. In improving urban-rural integration and modern market system, as well as endowing more rights to farmers, reform of rural collective economy property right system is of great significance, which provides a transition space and buffer mechanism for urbanization in rural areas.

Agricultural Land Contract and Management Rights:Transferring Price and Countermeasures in Typical Agricultural Areas of China

Henan is a large agricultural province and one of China’s major grain-producing areas. Agricultural land transfer and large-scale operations will have a profound impact on regional economic development and food security. This is a case study taken in Xiwan village in Qinyang city, Henan. This paper builds a transferring pricing model using land use rights assessment and characteristic correction of land contract and management rights. Results show that the transferring price of land contract and management rights should include the economic price, social price and corrected price. The use of a price model should focus on the distinction of theory and practical application. If there is no change in agricultural project,the actual transferring price should be the sum of the economic price and social security price. If there is a change in agricultural projects,such as cropland into cash crops,the actual transferring price should be the sum of the economic price, social price and corrected price. Because of the complexity of income distribution following the transfer, transferring gains should follow a rational distribution in the outflow side, inflow side, managers and land owner. The government should establish reasonable and orderly contracted management of land circulation transferring and use this to build a land transferring price system.

Trading Land Development Rights under a Planned Land Use System:The“Zhejiang Model”

China＇ s state planned land use system, including regulations such as setting planned quotas for land use, basic cropland preservation, and pursuing a balance between the conversion of arable land into non-agricultural use and the supplement of new agricultural land, has substantially constrained the economic growth of industrial provinces in China. This article explores the innovative reforms adopted by Zhejiang Province through land development rights （LDR） transfer within a locality and LDR trading across localities. We argue that there is a ＂Zhejiang model of LDR transferring and trading,＂ which, we believe, has significant implications not only for fostering an efficiency-enhancing market for land development rights and agricultural land preservation, but also for optimal use of land and a more balanced regional development. One important policy issue relating to China＇s rural land system is that under China＇ s land requisition system, farmers are usually under compensated for urban land-taking.

Does Security of Land Operational Rights Matter for the Improvement of Agricultural Production Efficiency under the Collective Ownership in China?

Under the"separation of three rights"policy,the impact of security of land operationalrights on agricultural production efficiency has attracted much attention in recentyears.Data envelopment analysis and mediation effect analysis were applied to 888family farms run by new-type agricultural operators from Songjiang to identify themechanism of the effect of land operational rights security on agricultural productionefficiency through long-term investment.The results show that greater security of landoperational rights generally increased agricultural production efficiency.Approximately37.94 percent of the impact could be explained by long-term investment.The resultsalso indicate that significant heterogeneity exists in the effect of land operational rightssecurity on agricultural production efficiency at various levels of the family farms'efficiency distributions.lt is suggested that government should legalize land operationalrights and give them a status equal to those of households'contractual rights and landownership rights in China's future land tenure reform.

State Fragmentation and Rights Contestation:Rural Land Development Rights in China

The functionalist reasoning of institutional changes builds on individual rationality and explains institutional changes from the demand side. While insightful, a comprehensive understanding also needs to take into account the supply side, The state, as the ultimate supplier of institutional changes, plays the pivotal role of agency; therefore, its willingness and ability decide how such regime change occurs and what partieular form the new regime takes. Since the mid-1990s, the Chinese economy has embarked on a path of rapid industrialization and urbanization. The contestation over rural land development rights in China offers an excellent case to illuminate the importance of state agency in institutional changes. Drawing on case studies in China＇s three major urbanizing regions, this article analyzes how villages brought their own land directly to the land market and reaped handsome profits. We argue that the three successful cases, Nanhai in Guangdong, Kunshan in Jiangsu and Zhenggezhuang in Beijing, all represent a product of active agency on the supply side. The Chinese state＇s fragmented authority provides a favorable institutional environment for such changes.