Crackdown aims to protect farmers

Source: Xinhua  |   2008-11-20  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

CHINA'S Party and government discipline watchdogs have pledged to protect farmers from malpractice in farmland management.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China and the Ministry of Supervision issued a circular yesterday stating they would supervise government departments handling cases of subcontracting farmland usage rights.

Farmland in China is owned by the state, but farmers can use the land by signing contracts which means they must pay a certain amount of the land's output. The CPC issued a new policy document in October allowing farmers to "lease their contracted farmland or transfer their land-use right."

"We will supervise related parties in such cases so that the ownership of the land and the way it is used are not changed and farmers' legal rights on the land are intact," the circular said.

The two departments said they would tighten supervision on compensation for farmland taken back by the government for public construction. They said they would crack down on manipulation of elections by village committee members, bribing voters or threatening them with violence. The departments also planned to fight illegal administrative charges for farmers such as power and water supply, birth control, house building and undertaking affairs, the circular said.

The country has experienced a series of protests in rural areas concerning farmland management. The latest was reported in northwest China's Gansu Province on Monday when more than 30 residents in Dongjiang Town, Wudu District, attacked local government buildings demanding action on their farmland, housing and livelihoods.