Capital going to the countryside: having the strength to compete for land but not the ability to farm

The land transferers unilaterally "break the contract" or even "run away," and the land rent is difficult to encash. the returned land is either hidden, or the motor wells and pipes are seriously damaged, or even the cultivated land is abandoned when they miss the farming season.

In early April, a reporter from the China Youth Daily found during interviews in rural areas of Bai Township and Wei County of Xingtai City, Hebei Province, and Cheng'an, Qiu County, and ci County of Handan City, that there was a phenomenon of "destroying contracts and abandoning farmland" in many places-- just signed a five-or 10-year "contracted land contract" with farmers last year, and this year the land transferers unilaterally terminated the contract and forcibly returned the arable land.

According to a survey by a reporter from the China Youth Daily, most of the farmers who are in trouble at present are those who have just taken out their land in the land transfer boom in the past two years, while those who "break contracts and abandon farming" are almost all rural capital shortly after farming. As "destroying the contract and abandoning farmland" covers an area of thousands of mu and involves a large number of farmers, it is tantamount to a small "earthquake" in the area.

An expert pointed out to a reporter from China Youth Daily that the high incidence of "breaking contracts and abandoning farming" is precisely the result of "the ability to compete for land but not the ability to farm" exposed in the process of capital going to the countryside to cultivate land in recent years. With the increasing downward pressure on the economy, the current "breaking contracts and abandoning farming" in rural areas is just the beginning.

Last year, the package was "dumped" this year, and the land transfer was on a "roller coaster".

On April 9, in Baixiang County, Xingtai City, the wheat seedlings in the surrounding plots grew more than a foot high, but the cultivated land of Guo Erpang, a villager in Neibu Township, was covered with barren grass, which became a pasture for shepherds and sheep herding in neighboring villages. The reason is that around the Spring Festival, the professional cooperative of Zhi Nong vegetable cultivation unilaterally terminated the 10-year land contract signed last year.

On April 1, Cheng'an County, Handan City, faced the accusation that the villagers in Beilangbao Village, a commercial town, had "broken their contract and abandoned their ploughing." for example, the person in charge of the specialized cooperative of forest and vegetable growers said: "you can sue me (to the court). The harsher the better!" She, who lost money on the transfer of land last year, claimed: "I don't know who to sue yet!"

On April 7, also in Cheng'an County, Handan City, when talking about the transfer of land, a villager in Hou Peili Village, Xinyi Township, shook his head again and again: "Last year, the transferred land in the west of the village lost money growing cabbages, and the land charterers patted their buttocks and ran away without even paying the farmers' land rent." The leisure farm built by the transfer of land in the north of the village has also made no money, and the "Mongolian camp" has now changed hands with others.

In contrast to the current helpless scene of "breaking contracts and abandoning farming", local farmers still remember the heat of land transfer that has rapidly swept the local countryside in the past two years.

Guo Zhenling, a villager in the inner three villages of Baixiang County, recalls that last year, in order to recruit branch directors, the Zhi Nong vegetable planting Professional Cooperative set up a "working group of more than a dozen people" in each township of the county, and in order to invite him to "come out of the mountain," the working group not only allowed him to come out of the mountain, but also used a variety of relationships.

Wang Chengqiang, a villager of Beilangbao Village in Cheng'an, remembers that at the beginning of last spring, "bosses" came to the village in batches of cars to beg for land. At that time, the barber shop in the village also became a quite lively information transfer station, and barbers and even roadside bicycle repairers also became part-time "agents."

The "typical" of land transfer has even been eagerly reported by the local media: it is said that due to the emergence of "Zhinong", a new type of agricultural professional cooperative covering the whole county, the agricultural structure and farmers' mode of production in Baixiang County are undergoing "unprecedented" changes; because of the large amount of land transferred by cooperatives, farmers "can earn three pieces of land"-- they can not only receive land transfer rent and dividends, but also earn wages in cooperatives.

For a while, the circulation of land was on the fast track.

Li, surnamed "Boss" of a professional cooperative for vegetable growers in the forest, was a water tester who went to the countryside for the first time last year. According to the boss surnamed Li, not only did she "break the contract and abandon farmland" of more than 1000 mu of land transferred in Cheng'an County last year, but other "bosses" who transferred land to Cheng'an during the same period are now "dumping land"-either returning it to farmers or subcontracting others.

Is the capital to go to the countryside farming or "playing" agriculture?

A large grain grower surnamed Wang in Handan is not optimistic about the land transfer fever that has rapidly swept the local countryside in the past year or two.

In her view, the promoters of this trend are nothing more than two forces: one is the urban industrial and commercial capital that has gone to the countryside to cultivate land in the past year or two, and the other is those with ulterior motives who achieve the purpose of illegal fund-raising by "showing off their muscles" through the transfer of land.

She estimates that nearly half of the people who "take land" to farm in the past year or two are such non-agricultural capital.

As for the recent large number of urban industrial and commercial capital going to the countryside to cultivate land, an expert engaged in the study of land transfer in Shijiazhuang Institute of Economics has also paid attention to it in the research. "the investment prospect of modern agriculture is widely optimistic, which stimulates the" tide "of industrial and commercial capital to the field of modern agriculture." She said: especially in recent years, the state has stepped up macro-control over real estate, steel, coal and other industries, coupled with the sluggish market in these industries, causing this part of the funds to be invested in agriculture to find a way out. "this is especially true for Hebei, which once used iron and steel and coal as the two major supporting industries in the province's economy."

A reporter from China Youth Daily saw that the influx of capital to the countryside is changing some rural areas in southern Hebei: the beautiful scenery of foreign farms and the "foreigners" of "chic" farming-huge advertisements with similar themes cover the construction sites of agriculture-related enterprises on cultivated land; even in relatively remote rural areas, sightseeing agriculture marked by yurts can be seen everywhere.

A farmer told the reporter: this is not doing agriculture, it is simply "playing" with agriculture. The big grain growers do not like it when they go to the countryside to cultivate land.

An expert from Shijiazhuang Institute of Economics said: "among the urban industrial and commercial capital going to the countryside, it is not ruled out that some enterprises are tempted by the value of land to enter agriculture for the purpose of 'enclosing land' or non-agriculturalization. Some enterprises encircle the land without using it, and what is more, some industrial and commercial capital enters agriculture for the purpose of obtaining state subsidies. "

"of course, many of them are sincere about engaging in agriculture." She also pointed out: "from the current industrial and commercial capital of farming in the countryside, the identity composition is complex, including real estate, construction, iron and steel, coal and other industries." When these enterprises enter agriculture, some of them see the strong support of the state to agriculture, some think that it may be easier to develop agriculture than other industries, and some are based on a simple agricultural complex. "however, most of them lack an in-depth understanding of the basic attributes of agriculture, the complexity, long-term nature and risk of agricultural investment, so they blindly follow the trend."

A large grain grower surnamed Wang in Handan also told the China Youth Daily that the urban industrial and commercial capital around her for the first time last year had "paid tuition fees" for this: when a real estate "boss" first planted land, he transferred 1800 mu of land to plant purple potatoes, resulting in a loss of several million; another real estate "boss" involved in agriculture for the first time transferred six or seven hundred mu of land for planting rice at a price of 1200 yuan per mu, resulting in a loss of at least 500 yuan per mu.

Land transfer, the highest bidder?

Last year, a "boss" engaged in the iron and steel industry in Handan planned to transfer land to grow sweet potatoes. In order to get rid of competitors, he raised the land rent from 1200 yuan / mu / year to 1400 yuan.

"the bosses who go to the countryside to farm land are ignorant and fearless, and there is indeed no shortage of money, so the land rent will rise again and again." A large grain grower surnamed Wang in Handan, who has many years of experience in land circulation, lamented to the China Youth Daily reporter: "I really don't know how to grow sweet potatoes with such a high land rent without losing money." According to her experience, the loss risk of growing sweet potatoes can only be controlled when the land rent is about 700 yuan / mu / year.

According to the expert research on land transfer in Shijiazhuang Institute of Economics, around 2012, the land rent of transferred land in Hebei Province is still about 400 yuan / mu / year, less than three years, and now the average level has risen to 1000 yuan / mu / year. the high ones reach 1200 yuan to 1400 yuan per mu per year.