CRI听力：Expert: It Is Right Time for Rural Reform and Development Policy

The Communist Party of China Central Committee has published a series of measures to boost reform and development in rural areas.

Experts say it's the right time to introduce such policies since the country's current family scale small-plot leasing mode would hinder the country's agricultural modernization and fail to effectively protect farmlands.

Here is Yunfeng to explain more.

Reporter:

The decision on major issues concerning the advancement of rural reform and development, approved by the CPC Central Committee earlier this month, allows farmers to "lease their contracted farmland or transfer their land-use right" to boost the scale of operations.

At present, farmland in China is collectively owned, but meted out to farmers in small plots in long-term leasing contracts.

Xin Min, a professor with the Party School of the Central Committee of CPC, said the new move can help improve the use of farmland.

"Nowadays, farm production is mostly conducted in a small scale and operated by a household unit. This has resulted in inefficient production. Allowing farmers to sub-contract, lease, exchange, and swap their land use rights can help ensure farmlands are used efficiently and can boost China's agricultural economy."

Currently in rural China, a lot of farmland has been deserted. Many young farmers chose to work in urban areas over earning small profits in farmlands.

Leasing land rights to others not only ensures the effective use of deserted farmland, but also ensures farmers embark on new business operations.

When the policy was drafted, some worried that arable lands to be used for non-farming purposes could threaten the country's food safety.

To ease such fears, the policy urged local authorities to firmly safeguard the 1.8 billion mu or 120 million hectares quota earmarked for farmlands.

The policy also stipulates that raising the per unit grain yield to improve grain production as the top priority for modernizing agriculture.(Www.hxen.net)

Professor Xin Min said on the precondition of ensuring the country's 120 million hectares of farmland, advanced technologies should be stressed to improve agricultural production and ensure the country's food safety.

"Grain is not like other products in the market. Sustaining arable land is the precondition of developing modern agriculture. But that's not enough. We should improve management of our farmlands with the help of scientific and technological advancement."

The central government also called on local governments to stick to "the most stringent land conservation system" to strictly control the total scale of the land use for urban development.

YF, CRI news.