China’s rural land reform could be a cash cow for farmers after bold move at third plenum
- Long hindered by restrictions on profiting from land on which they live, rural residents now face a ‘very valuable’ proposal
China’s latest blueprint on rural land reform features a major push toward an issue that farmers and analysts have been anticipating, but which Beijing has been prudent in embracing.
Through easing restrictions on the use of residential property in the countryside, farmers should be able to explore various commercial purposes to capitalise on the land.
Under existing laws, rural homes are only tradeable within the same village and cannot be used as collateral for loans – a rule widely believed to have led to wasted resources while hindering farmers from raising capital amid the process of urbanisation.
And while it was ambiguous and will need to be laid out later in legislation, the pledge represents an important policy decision in breaking down limitations to the use of rural property, which on paper is owned by village collectives and only meant to serve as farmers’ current residence, according to Zheng Linyi, a researcher with the China Academy for Rural Development at Zhejiang University.
They said rural homes can be utilised in multiple ways, which I believe is big progress
Calling it a “very valuable” proposal, he said it not only opened the door for rural homes to be used for commercial purposes, it also covered all rural residents instead of just those who have left to work in the cities.
“This is quite a big breakthrough,” Zheng said. “I hope it will transform from the party’s decision to a state policy and be reflected in law.”
Local authorities have launched a series of experiments in reforming the rural land system over the past decades, allowing transactions and the use of property as collateral within small scopes, but none of the trials have been expanded nationally.