Minister Han Changfu briefed the press on improving the approach to separation of rural land ownership, contract right and management right at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office (SCIO) in Beijing on Nov. 3, 2016.
At the press conference, Minister Han, together with Mr. Zhang Hongyu, Director-General of the Department of Rural Economic System and Management, MOA, took questionsfrom the media.
Minister Han highlighted the importance of rural land issue in China, stating that it is the top priority of the work related to agriculture, farmers and rural area, and concerns the immediate interests of hundreds of millions of Chinese farmers.
Minister Han quoted President Xi Jinping as saying that to deepen rural reform under the new situation, the key lies in properly handling the relationship between farmers and farmland.
Minister Han emphasized that in the implementation of the separation of rural land ownership, contract right and management right (hereinafter referred to as the "three rights'), China will unswervingly adhere to the fundamental position of collective ownership of rural land, strictly protecting the land contract right of farmers, accelerating the pace to free land management right circulation, and improving the relationship between the "three rights'.
With the evolution of the farming sector, particularly the exodus of farmers to cities, agricultural modernization and mechanization, China always follows the law that production relations must be compatible with the development of productivity in its land tenure arrangement.
Responding to the question about the core connotation and significance of the separation of "three rights', Minister Han told the media that the separation of "three rights' is an innovation in rural land reform and it enriches China's rural land policies. The separation of "three rights' will, on the basis of protecting farmers' contract right, confer management right to new farmland operating entities to deliver optimized allocation of production factors for higher efficiency of resources utilization.
On the relationship between contracting households and operating entities, Minister Han clarified the rights of the two parties. No organization and individual can force farmers to transfer their land contract right or restrict the free circulation of the land management right. China also protect the legal rights of the farmland operating entities so that they will increase investment in farmland to improve soil fertility and agricultural infrastructure.
Regarding rural land ownership, Minister Han reiterated that China will not change the collective ownership of rural land under any circumstances. This is the fundamental land tenure regime for rural work and rural reform.