Chinese lawmaker makes urgent call for rural land reform

The mainland's land requisition system is in dire need of reform as it currently fails to protect farmers' rights, a top rural policymaker said yesterday.

Chen Xiwen, director of the Communist Party's Central Rural Work Leading Group, told an economic forum in Beijing that reform of the land requisition system and the entire rural land system was imperative to protect farmers' rights.

The requisitioning of large areas of rural land and its subsequent inefficient use has been widely criticised by the public, Chen said in a keynote speech at the Caijing Annual Conference.

His remarks follow the State Council's passing of a draft amendment to the Land Administration Law on Wednesday, which is expected to include guidelines on increased compensation for farmers for land that is compulsorily acquired.

At the National Rural Work Conference last December, Premier Wen Jiabao had promised to introduce regulations this year to increase farmers' share of profits from the sale of land. Revising the Land Administration Law was a necessary first step in the process. Professor Zheng Fengtian , from Renmin University's school of agricultural economics and rural development, said the passing of the amendment meant that the regulations were imminent.

He said one-off cash compensation for farmers who had just lost their land should be increased and that they should also be given job opportunities and improved social welfare.

"Compensation for land requisitioned for different purposes, say, for commercial use and for public welfare, should be different," Zheng said.