The Chinese government is to improve compensation for farmers
whose land is compulsorily acquired with the strict implementation
of a new system drawn up by the Ministry of Land and Resources
(MLR), said a senior official with the MLR on Sunday.
The new examination methods on compensation for farmland, put
into effective on August 1, will be the criteria, said the
official.
Average per capita farmland has dropped to 1.4 mu, but the
government plans to retain at least 1.8 billion mu (120 million
hectares) by the end of 2010.
The government has been maintaining productivity by compensating
those whose land is acquired for construction.
The system requires those claiming farmland for construction to
pay a compensation fee, farmland reclamation fee, land use fee or
other compensation charges.
Enterprises or institutions responsible for compensation should
clarify their compensation programs with a specific project and the
project, once completed, should be up to the designed
requirements.
According to the MLR, farmers reclaimed about the same amount of
farmland as was acquired from them last year, but much of the
reclaimed land was poor compared with the land they lost.
For example, 67 percent of farmland occupied for construction
last year was equipped with irrigation facilities, but only 35
percent of reclaimed land had such facilities.
(Xinhua News Agency September 4, 2006)