Land transfer: New round of rural reform

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Source: CCTV.com | 12-09-2008 13:54

Thirty years ago, Chinese farmers began working with new energy vigor in their fields, as a policy was implemented called the Household Contract System of Responsibility. It gave the "right of land use" to individual families. Thirty years on and a new round of reform is taking place in the countryside.

Thirty years ago, Household Contract System of  Responsibility gave the "right of land use" to  individual families.

The amount of cultivated land in China is actually small, in relation to its vast territory. And during the last 30 years, the cultivated areas have been gradually taken over by industrial development. Farmers are often the most vulnerable when this land changes hands. Tomorrow, Xu Zhaoqun will tell us about efforts being made to protect the land and the interests of the farmers in the suburbs of Chengdu.

"Tangying Agriculture Co. Ltd.", reads the sign at the gateway to Tangying village in Qionglai, a county in Sichuan. Thirty years ago, the villagers would never have imagined that one day many of them would become workers in a company that they had established themselves.

Vegetables are being planted in the company's 55 hectares of farm land, which used to be fields contracted to the villagers.

Wu Mingyuan transferred half of his field to the company to grow tomatoes, and he works half a day in the company's green house.

Wu Mingyuan, villager of Qionglai County, Sichuan province, said, "Now I have a salary every month which is much more than what I made before I came here."