Speech at the Press Conference of the State Council Information Office

November 3, 2016

Mr. Han Changfu, Minister of Agriculture, P.R. China

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good Morning!

Our press conference today is very important. China’s Central Leadership has repeatedly emphasized that the work related to agriculture, farmers and rural area, or “Sannong” as we say in Chinese, is the top priority of the Communist Party of China. In a sense, land issue is the top priority of Sannong. Since the 18^th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee, keeping in mind the whole picture of the nation and the party, has made a series of arrangement to deepen the reform of rural land tenure system. Recently, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council have issued the Opinions on Improving the Approach to Separation of Rural Land Ownership, Contract Right and Management Right (hereinafter referred to as the “document”), which is of great significance to guide the reform of rural land property rights system in the coming period of time and will definitely exert far-reaching influence.

In July, 2013, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that, in order to deepen rural reform and improve the basic management system in the rural area, we should well study the relationship between rural land ownership, land contract right and land management right (hereinafter referred to as the “three rights”). At the Xiaogang Village Rural Reform Symposium on April 25^th this year, General Secretary Xi Jinping once again emphasized that, to deepen rural reform under the new situation, the key still lay in properly handling the relationship between farmers and farmland, which provide the direction for the reform of rural land tenure system. The Fifth plenary session of the 18Th CPC Central Committee pointed out that we shall improve the approach to separation of rural land contract right and management right and promote the transaction of rural land management right in an orderly manner.

To implement the requirement of the Central Leadership, the Ministry of Agriculture, together with other relevant departments, have conducted intensive basic research and investigation to summarize local experiences and solicit comments and suggestions from different stakeholders. On that basis, we organized the preparation of the current document “Opinions on Improving the Approach to Separation of Rural Land Ownership, Contract Right and Management Right”, which was adopted by the CPC Central Leading Group for Overall Reform at its 27th meeting. The document has illustrated the historic rationale of the approach to separation of rural land ownership, contract right and management right and its significance for promoting modern agricultural development; emphasized the guideline and basic principles for implementing the separation of the “three rights”, making specific provisions on adhering 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”, and; provided the procedural requirements to ensure the orderly implementation of the separation of the “three rights”. It’s fair to say that the document has duly reflected the demand from practice, embodied the wisdom of the people and demonstrated the intent of the Central Authority.

Since the adoption of reform and opening-up, the rural land tenure arrangement of the Central Leadership has always followed the law that production relations must be compatible with the development of productivity. We have always upheld the principle of respecting the will of farmers and constantly improving the rural land tenure system with distinct Chinese characteristics in a step-by-step manner, which resembles a trilogy in drama. In the very beginning of the reform and opening-up, according to the relatively low level of agricultural productivity and the overriding urgency to solve food security, we adopted the household contract responsibility system with remuneration linked to output, conferring the land contractual management right to farming household while adhering to the collective ownership of rural land. That reform motivated the production enthusiasm of millions of farmers, solving the food security problem and offering an energetic support to the rapid growth of national economy, a major achievement induced by rural reform in China. With three decades of development, as the socialist market economy is constantly improving, according to the requirement of a property right system featuring clear title, complete function, smooth circulation and strict protection, the central government of China launched the program of ascertainment, registration and certification of collective ownership of rural land and farmer’s contractual operation right, issuing legally binding land certificates to farmers. This approach maintains the long-term stability of rural land contractual relations and provides a solid institutional foundation. Currently, with the intensification of industrialization and urbanization, a large number of farmers have migrated to the urban area, and a considerable number of farmers have transferred their contracted land to others for agricultural operation, resulting in the separation of farmland contractor and operator. The separation and co-existence of rural land ownership, contract right and management right has come into being. Such an arrangement has maintained the collective ownership, stabilized farmer’s contractual right, and freed the land management right, laying the ground for orderly circulation of land management right, development of moderately large-scale agricultural operation and transition into modern agriculture.

The separation of the “three rights” is a major innovation under the new historical situation since the adoption of the household contract responsibility system. We believe that, with the implementation of the document, the basic rural management system will be further consolidated and improved, together with a healthy development of modern agriculture, steady increase of farmer’s income and rapid progress of a socialist new countryside.

Now, my colleagues and I are ready to take your questions related to the separation of the “three rights” and rural land system reform.