Impact Of Confirmation Of Rural Land Contract Right On Protecting Cultivated Land In China

Since reforming and opening in China, the development of township enterprises, farmers’building boom, and speeding up of the industrialization and urbanization have taken up a lot of farmland, therefore CPC Central Committee and the State Council put forward a basic national policy which is "cherish and use of all the land rationally, protect farmland as far as possible ". In spite of China promulgated a series of farmland protection policy, however, there are still some phenomenon that unlawful appropriation and misuse of farmland, contrary to the wishes of farmers and seizure of farmland, which against the famers’interests, reduce the amount of farmland and damage the quality of farmland. From2009to2014,there were emphasized the work of rural collective farmland ownership repeatedly in Document NO.1of the Central Government, also there were many policies on confirmation right of rural land contract in different regions, which have a great effect on grasping the situation of rural farmland contract management and protecting farmers’ land rights. We need further research that how rural collective farmland ownership impact on the farmland protection.Based on implementation effect of farmland protection policy in China, this study analysis the reason of farmland loss and degradation, the main factors of confirmation right’s willingness of rural land contract under the farmland ownership, different stakeholders’rational choice in confirmation right and protection of farmland, and discuss the relationship between rural collective farmland ownership and farmland protection based on the perspective of farmland’s quality, quantity and efficiency, then propose conclusions and recommendations. The content of this study is divided into five parts:First, compare domestic and foreign farmland protection policy, analyze the effect of the implementation of farmland protection policy; Second, analysis of confirmation right of farmland in typical areas and summarize the successful experience; Third, carry out empirical research in willingness and behavior of farmland’s confirmation right; Fourth, carry out game analysis between farmland’s confirmation right and the entity of farmland protection according to appropriate target and behavior; Fifth, analysis "how rural collective farmland ownership impact on the farmland protection", and to further explore the issue that "how rural collective farmland ownership impact on the land transfer, land acquisition, the amount of land, land quality and land utilization".This study found that:(1) In famlands’confirmation right, the area of registration, proclaiming card work is not conform to the actual measurement, which based on the second round of land contracting, thus lead to a kind of phenomenon:a piece of land, two account, which could not reflect the true amount of cultivated land, and also make the farmers who did not allocate land lost chances of allocating land, finally they become the real "landless peasants".(2) Many regions have established land markets and land-use rights trading center after confirmation right of rural land contract, some regions adopt the way of "Confirm right and share, not confirmed land" to confirm land contract and management rights of farmer. Some farmers’living standard will decline, especially the farmers with low education, older age and low skills.(3) Famers’willingness of confirmation right of rural land exhibits a positive correlation with per capita area of cultivated land, net income of farming, and business or industry revenues. But the quality of cultivated land has a low relevance with farmers’Knowledge level and farming experience.(4) When the Central Government as the client, and local governments, collective organization and farmers of the village as the agent, farmland protection of local government and village collective organization are greatly reduced in the interests of the game. Actually confirmation right of rural land contract will help farmers enhance the protection of farmland.(5) To some extent, confirmation right of rural land contract promotes the land transfer, reduce the government’s land acquisition act effectively, and illegal arable land occupation and hoarding issues, then enhancing the utilization of arable land.According to these findings, we propose the following recommendations:(1) It should be based on the real situation of farmer, setting the top-down rules in famers’confirmation right, and finding the ledger according to the actual area of the second round of land contracting, to remain steady in countryside.(2) For the older farmers, offer a variety of agricultural services and technology by the mean of swapping and adjustment land ownership, and also comply with their wishes, furthermore, to improve the planting efficiency.(3) Carry out scientific farming training, accelerate land transfer, cultivate a new agricultural business entities, and protect existing farmland.(4) Enhance the supervision of farmland protection of local government, village collective organizations and farmers; accelerate the confirmation right of collective rural land.(5) Oversight and governance the act of cheap land acquisition and hoarding by local governments, enterprises and institutions, raising the price of idle land. For those behaviors of hoarding, it should be taken back gratuitously which hasn’t been used for two years, and be cultivated by the primary farmer.