The land ministry is launching a three-month crackdown on local governments who force farmers off their land and into high-density flats so the land can be used for commercial development.
Local land departments will carry out self-inspections and be subject to spot checks by central authorities from next month to May, the Ministry of Land and Resources said in a video conference.
The inspections will focus on local governments using loopholes in a trial policy which allows officials to convert more land for commercial use if they can increase the size of farmland through other means. Many local cadres wooed or forced farmers to move to flats and convert their residences into farmland.
The ministry's chief planner, Hu Cunzhi, said a misinterpretation of the policy had resulted in many problems, including villages being rebuilt simply to pursue land for urban construction - forcing farmers to move to high-density apartments - and failing to fund relocations properly. 'All the existing problems should be removed one by one,' he said.
Wang Xiaoying, an expert on rural land issues at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said 'the policy intended to make full use of idle land in rural areas to support urbanisation, but it has encountered many problems'.
'There's a lack of supervision. What is the quality of the redeveloped farmland? Are farmers being forced to move to multi-storey buildings? Are their rights being infringed? Are local governments exaggerating a quota they got?'
