Countermeasures for Establishing a Long-term Security Mechanism for Landless Farmers

Jiefang ZHU

Department of Finance, Economics and Management, Modern College of Northwest University, Xi’an 710130, China

Abstract In the process of urbanization, farmers will inevitably lose their land, which is resulted from the large-scale requisition of rural collective land. The imperfect social security system in rural areas has resulted in a large number of landless farmers being transformed into urban poor people. Therefore, proper resettlement of landless farmers and the establishment of a long-term security mechanism for ensuring the basic livelihood of landless farmers are important issues that need to be resolved in the process of China’s social and economic development.

Key words Landless farmers, Long-term security mechanism, Countermeasures

1 Introduction

After farmers lose their land, their employment and endowment are lost, and the existing social security system in rural areas is difficult to support their future livelihood. The basic idea for solving the problem of landless farmers is to provide long-term and reliable social security for landless farmers during the process of land requisition, actively explore multiple resettlement methods for landless farmers, and build a harmonious society in the rural areas. Therefore, the research on this issue not only has important theoretical value, but also has important practical significance.

2 Problems of landless farmers

2.1TheproblemoflandlessfarmersisbroughtaboutintheprocessofdevelopmentofurbanizationUrbanization is an inevitable trend in the development of modern society, and the process of urbanization is accompanied by a large number of land requisition activities. This means that the faster the rate of urbanization, the more prominent the problem of landless farmers[1]. According to China’s current urbanization process and the pace of infrastructure construction, in the future, 166 666-200 000 ha of rural land will need to be requisitioned, and 3.5 to 4 million farmers will become new landless farmers annually.

According to relevant data, nearly 6 666 666 ha of land has been requisitioned across the country, and its direct consequences have caused more than 50 million land-lost farmers lingering on the edge of cities. Obviously, landless farmers have become a new huge special group, and this group will have an important impact on social and economic development[2].

2.2TheproblemoflandlessfarmersisbroughtaboutintheprocessofrurallandrequisitionDuring the planned economy period, the government adopted the principle of "the party who requisitions land is responsible for the resettlement", and all employment and living problems of landless farmers were resolved. With the establishment and continuous improvement of China’s market economy system, the traditional government resettlement methods are no longer effective. This reflects the situation that China’s rural land requisition system has become increasingly unsuitable for the market economy system[3]. There is no fundamental difference between the current land requisition system and the traditional land requisition system system. However, the development principles of the market economy system and the planned economy system are no longer the same, so the conflicts caused during the process of land requisition will become more prominent.

2.3LandlessfarmersareunstablefactorsinsocialandeconomicdevelopmentLandless farmers have a common characteristic. This is that they have no land to work in agriculture, no jobs to work, no guarantees for subsistence allowances. Then a considerable number of landless farmers get into a very difficult life. Farmers who lost their land not only paid a heavy price, but also lost jobs and social security. Especially those farmers in rural-urban fringe area, once losing their land, become "marginal people" floating between urban and rural areas. They have no other choice but to enter the city without any training, and because the city is not ready to accept them, they are in danger of being completely "marginalized." Landless farmers do not seriously take the city as their home, and there is an irreversible barrier between them and the city. Thousands of "landless farmers" wandering on the edge of the city, if not guided in time, will inevitably have an adverse impact on the development and stability of the entire society and even the whole country.

3 Direct causes for problems of landless farmers

3.1DrawbacksinexistingrelatedlawsaboutlandrequisitionAccording to Article 10 of theConstitutionofthePeople’sRepublicofChina, Land in the cities is owned by the state. The state may, for the public interest, expropriate or take over land for public use, and pay compensation in accordance with the law. According to Article 43 ofLandAdministrationLawofthePeople’sRepublicofChina, all units and individuals that need land for construction purposes shall, in accordance with law, apply for the use of state-owned land. In other words, when any unit or individual needs to use the land, the rural collective land must first be converted into state-owned land through state requisition. That is to say, even if it is not in the public interest, as long as the unit and individual converts to state-owned land, the use of land by the unit and individual will be legal. Besides, China’s law stipulates that "public interest" is the prerequisite for land requisition by the state, and whether it conforms to "public interest" is the basis for the exercise of land requisition rights[4]. However, the "public interest" and "the scope of public interest" are not clearly stipulated in relevant laws, so that the government can expand the scope of land requisition according to the need of "public interest" to all land use projects including "non-public interest". In this situation, many commercial land and real estate developments are taking this "public interest" as a kind of hitchhiking.

3.2LackofdemocracyinexistinglawsonlandrequisitionproceduresThe existing laws also stipulate that disputes over compensation and resettlement for land requisition will not affect the implementation of land requisition schemes, which means that farmers are completely passive and unequal in the process of land requisition and have no right to participate or voice at all. The lack of democratic procedures and transparency in the process of land requisition are the main causes why landless farmers cannot enjoy democratic rights such as the right to know, and the participation and voice rights. In addition, in the process of land requisition, the government’s utilitarian tendency in order to pursue maximum political benefits, that is, to pursue performance, is serious. They take advantage of the shortcomings of the current land requisition system and their power to control, the land is used as the second finance to generate wealth from the land. As a result, the phenomenon of "requisition at low price but selling at high price" of land is common.

3.3UnreasonablecompensationstandardsforlandrequisitionincurrentlawsAccording to Article 47 of theLandAdministrationLawofthePeople’sRepublicofChina, Land expropriated shall be compensated for on the basis of its original purpose of use.... Compensation for expropriated of cultivated land shall be six to ten times the average annual output value of the expropriated land, calculated on the basis of three years preceding such requisition.... The standard resettlement subsidies to be divided among members of the agricultural population needing resettlement shall be four to six times the average annual output value of the expropriated cultivated land calculated on the basis of three years preceding such expropriation. However, the maximum resettlement subsidies for each hectare of the expropriated cultivated land shall not exceed fifteen times its average annual output value calculated on the basis of three years preceding such expropriation.... However, the total land compensation and resettlement subsidies shall not exceed 30 times the average annual output value of the expropriated land calculated on the basis of three years preceding such expropriation. The unreasonable compensation standards for land requisition in the existing laws are mainly manifested in the following aspects: (i) the landless farmers are not compensated according to the actual price of the land, but are compensated according to the original use of the requisitioned land; (ii) the existing law’s compensation standard for land requisition is a principle of "appropriate compensation", which is an unfair and incomplete compensation principle. Once the land is requisitioned, the value of the land has increased rapidly due to differences in the location of the land, national planning and development investment, but the current compensation standard for land requisition does not take into account the value-added portion of the land price[5].

3.4UnreasonableallocationofcompensationforlandreacquisitionintheexistinglawsAccording to relevant data, the benefits of land appreciation include three aspects: (i) the proportion of rural collective economic organizations’ allocation accounts for about 20%; (ii) the proportion of government allocation accounts for about 30%; (iii) the proportion of development zones and developers’ distribution accounts for about 50%. Obviously, this allocation pattern is unreasonable and unfair.RegulationontheImplementationoftheLandAdministrationLawstipulates that land compensation fees are owned by rural collective economic organizations, not directly by farmers. Such provision opened the door to convenience for grassroots governments and rural cadres for embezzlement and misappropriation of land requisition compensation fees, making farmers’ small compensation payments extremely vulnerable to being intercepted and diverted.

4 Countermeasures for establishing a long-term security mechanism for landless farmers

4.1Strictlycontrollingthegrowthrateoflandlessfarmers

Urbanization is a fundamental way for China to achieve modernization, but its development speed should be suitable for China’s current economic development speed and various aspects of bearing capacity, and should also be coordinated with the adjustment of industrial structure. Some local governments are enthusiastic about various forms of image projects, establishing development zones in a blind manner, and occupying and requisitioning good land. As a result, a large number of development zones have been left idle. The economy fails to be developed, and it also causes a series of social problems. (i) Landless farmers cannot be absorbed by the city and their lives can not be guaranteed. (ii) The growth rate of landless farmers is not coordinated with the adjustment of the industrial structure, resulting in employment difficulties for landless farmers. (iii) Landless farmers become poorer, leading to social instability. (iv) The grain sown area has continued to decline, resulting in a sharp decline in the grain yield. Therefore, it is recommended to and actively curb the trend of the rapid decline in the amount of cultivated land and the rapid increase in the number of landless farmers from the perspective of scientific development concepts, and make overall plans to achieve stable economic and social development.

4.2AmendingandimprovingtheexistinglawsandsystemsonlandrequisitionWhen amending and improving the existing laws and systems on land requisition, it is required to make special provision that "public interest" is the legal basis and precondition for exercising the land requisition right. Therefore, clearly defining the scope of "public interest" and "non-public interests" is the key to preventing abuse of land requisition rights and restricting the arbitrary expansion of land requisition scope. "Public interest" projects are public facilities or public welfare projects that are based on the needs of the state, society, and people not for profits, and are for the benefit of the entire public and are shared by the public. By comparison, "non-public interest" projects are non-public projects that allow rural non-agricultural construction land to enter the market in accordance with the overall land use planning and market rules, realize the value of land through market mechanisms, and ensure that farmers receive land use rights. Therefore, in the process of converting agricultural land into construction land, the administrative land requisition method in the planned economy period should be changed as soon as possible, and market mechanisms should be introduced to allow farmers to directly participate in the entire process of land transactions to ensure fully respecting their right of land use and disposal and effective protection of interests.

4.3StrictlyregulatinggovernmentbehaviorandchanginggovernmentfunctionsLand requisition right is a kind of power peculiar to the government. In the process of exercising this power, the government should be a representative of the public interest. (i) The government should change its idea and establish a correct development and political performance concept. In the process of urbanization, the government should establish a "people-oriented" scientific concept of development, and abandon the wrong concept of political achievements and the behavior of "using land to make money". (ii) Regulating government behavior and changing government functions. The government does not have the function of land management. It is required to separate the management function of state-owned land from government management departments, accelerate the transformation of government functions, weaken and gradually strip the government’s interest in land acquisition, allow the government to withdraw from direct land transactions, and restrict the land requisition right of government, to regulate the government’s land requisition behavior. (iii) Establishing an open and transparent land requisition management system and procedure. The public shall be allowed to participate in the early stage of land requisition to ensure that farmers have full right to know. Besides, it is required to implement a strict land requisition announcement system. The government should establish a consultation mechanism for land requisition and undertake full consultation with farmers on land compensation costs and resettlement. It is recommended to establish a special supervision organization and gradually bring the land requisition process into the track of standardization and legalization.

4.4Improvingthecompensationmechanismandbenefitallocationmechanismforlandrequisition(i) Under the market economy system, it is required to follow the laws of the market economy, and land requisition for public welfare and non-public welfare should be treated differently and compensated by categories. For "public interest" land requisition, the market price of land should be used as the basis and the principle of fair compensation should be adopted to maximize the compensation for the loss of landless farmers[6]. The requisition of "non-public interest" land should be carried out on the premise of conforming to the overall land use planning, and letting non-public interest land enter the market directly, and following the principle of full compensation for landless farmers. (ii) A reasonable compensation standard for land requisition should comprehensively consider natural conditions, location conditions, environmental conditions,etc., and should classify agricultural land. It is required to take the classification of agricultural land as the basis to evaluate the price of agricultural land, and use the evaluated price to determine the compensation standards for land property. (iii) Landless farmers should not only share the value-added income of land, but also receive a larger allocation ratio than the current one. It is required to change the situation where landless farmers receive only limited compensation and resettlement fees, and provide sufficient economic sources for the majority of landless farmers to solve the problem of their basic long-term living.

4.5EstablishingasocialsecuritysystemforlandlessfarmersLandless farmers are a special group, their social security system is different from that of ordinary urban residents. (i) It is recommended to establish a minimum living security system for landless farmers, implement minimum living security that supplements the minimum living standard for farmers with monthly incomes higher than the minimum living standard, and provide assistance for the extremely poor elderly who do not meet the minimum living security and the elderly who are still in difficulty with the minimum living allowance. (ii) It is recommended to establish an endowment insurance system for landless farmers, which will play a positive role in promoting social stability and the implementation of the basic national policy of family planning. It is recommended to implement the basic living security funds on the principle of "the finance allocating a portion, the village collective providing a portion, and the individual paying a portion". (iii) It is recommended to establish a new rural cooperative medical security system, strengthen rural medical insurance and commercial insurance, and establish and improve a new rural cooperative medical system that focuses on social pooling for catastrophic disease with government promotion and individual participation. (iv) The state should formulate more preferential policies for resettlement of landless farmers as soon as possible, and in particular, strengthen their vocational skills training. The government should explore multiple resettlement methods and broaden employment opportuni-

ties. Government should encourage land-using units to give priority jobs suitable for farmers’ employment as much as possible to land-expropriated farmers, and also support land-expropriated farmers to choose jobs and start their own businesses.

4.6Constantlydevelopingandstrengtheningthecollectiveeconomy(i) The state should take a portion of the proceeds from land requisition for the rural collective economic organizations whose land is requisitioned to develop township collective enterprises. Township collective enterprises have a great advantage in absorbing surplus rural labor. They can not only create jobs for landless farmers, but also use the profits obtained to return to landless farmers. (ii) It is recommended to encourage rural collective economic organizations to revitalize assets and participate in land development, and allow rural collective economic organizations and farmers to use land use rights as assets and jointly establish joint-stock cooperative companies with investors for joint development. (iii) It is recommended to implement land shareholding to enable landless farmers to obtain permanent income rights from the land.