Industrial and commercial capital will set a ceiling for leasing agricultural land

Following the issuance of the "opinions on guiding the orderly transfer of Rural Land Management Rights to develop appropriate scale Agriculture" (hereinafter referred to as "opinions") on November 20, the 21st Century Economic report reporter learned from authoritative sources that recently, state ministries and commissions are intensively soliciting suggestions on industrial and commercial capital access supervision and risk prevention from various localities, and are expected to issue specific rules for standardizing industrial and commercial capital going to the countryside.

The reporter learned that the focus of soliciting opinions included issues of great concern, such as the control of the upper limit of contracted land contracted by industrial and commercial enterprises for a long time and a large area of farmers, and discussed how to specifically define the area and time limit of leased land.

Set restrictions on leased land

It has become more and more fashionable for capital bosses to go to the countryside to "play agriculture". The industrial and commercial capital going to the countryside has brought about the large-scale and modern operation of agriculture to a certain extent, but the controversy about part of the "capital enclosure" has not stopped.

After the promulgation of the "opinion", the specific rules for supervising the flow of industrial and commercial capital to the countryside are under intensive discussion.

The "opinion" clearly proposes to strengthen the supervision and risk prevention of industrial and commercial enterprises leasing land contracted by farmers. All localities should have a clear upper limit on industrial and commercial enterprises' long-term and large-scale leasing of contracted land for farmers, establish and improve the systems of qualification examination, project examination, and risk guarantee funds, and stipulate the conditions of land lease, the scope of business, and penalties for violations of regulations.

The 21st Century Economic report reporter learned from authoritative channels that the focus of soliciting regulatory opinions at the national level, including how to define industrial and commercial enterprises, how to define "long-term, large area", how local governments control industrial and commercial enterprises to lease land within the upper limit, and specific sanctions against them to break through the upper limit. One of the most controversial is how to determine the upper limit of the lease time and area, that is, how long the enterprise can rent the land in the countryside and how much the maximum area can be rented.

This also means that the "performance benchmark" of large land transfer leases established by some local governments in the past will be redefined.

A reporter from the 21st Century Economic report learned that in the process of officially soliciting opinions, some eastern provinces have reported the relevant supervision and implementation opinions to the national level, and this opinion is the first to put forward the specific time and area limit for industrial and commercial enterprises to lease farmland, which is expected to be introduced and tested as soon as possible.

In fact, although the central government has repeatedly issued policies to emphasize that "in order to stabilize agriculture and rural areas, industrial and commercial enterprises are not encouraged to lease and operate contracted land on a large scale for a long time." most of the local governments have no specific upper limit on the area of contracted land for rural households, and the time for contracting varies greatly from place to place.

Some people in the agricultural sector who spoke on condition of anonymity told the 21st century economic reporter that under the background of comprehensive reform and reducing administrative examination and approval, it is not easy to issue documents to regulate land transfer, and it shows the determination of the central government. In addition, this time clearly stipulates the time and area limit of industrial and commercial capital leasing agricultural land, which means that the supervision of industrial and commercial capital access to the countryside will be implemented, but the specific operation is still relatively complex, and a large number of opinions are needed.

Discussion on the risk guarantee system

It has always been controversial for industrial and commercial capital to go to the countryside, and its benefits and risks coexist.

An official in charge of land transfer in the central province told the 21st Century Economic News that the large-scale "march" of social capital into agriculture has brought social funds and alleviated the problem of insufficient investment in the process of agricultural development. it also brings high and new technology and advanced management ideas. In his city, social capital investment accounts for more than 60% of the land transferred by all investment agricultural projects.

At the same time, he listed some problems in the entry of social capital into agriculture. First of all, there is a hidden danger that the lease time is too long. In the projects that have been transferred at present, industrial and commercial enterprises all hope that the land transfer time will be as long as possible. This makes it difficult to estimate the expected value of land in the later stage, and it is also difficult for regulatory authorities to supervise.

In addition, at present, most of the existing large-scale circulation projects are the intervention of social capital. in the process of capital going to the countryside, a small number of enterprises unilaterally violated the contractual agreement and changed the regulations on land use control without authorization, so that the transferred land showed "non-agriculture" and "non-grain", and even enterprises used project funds to engage in capital operation.

He Xuefeng, a professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology who investigated too much land transfer, told the 21st Century Economic report that it is very necessary for the central government to issue documents to regulate the upper limit on area and time. At present, many local governments encourage and promote circulation, regard large-scale circulation and leasing as political achievements, and even subsidize project funds. Industrial and commercial capital develops sightseeing agriculture through enclosure, which is a common phenomenon in rural areas around the provincial capital cities.

At present, the state ministries and commissions are soliciting opinions on how to control and prevent the risks brought by industrial and commercial capital going to the countryside, including how to improve qualification examination, project review and the establishment of a risk guarantee fund system.

According to a person familiar with the matter, in terms of regulatory authorities, state ministries have already had a preliminary intention to set up a land transfer review committee, which is led by the government and led by agricultural and economic departments. There are representatives of farmers and relevant departments. This measure will be piloted first.

A person in charge of the Wuhan Municipal Bureau of Agriculture told the 21st Century Economic report that in terms of risk prevention and control, Wuhan City explored the way earlier, and it was an early area in China that proposed to establish a risk guarantee fund. That is to raise the entry threshold of social capital, social capital to participate in land transfer must first pay 3-5 times the annual transfer rent as a "risk deposit".

According to reports, at present, two districts in Wuhan are experimenting with the risk margin system. The purpose of collecting "risk deposit" is to prevent enterprises from withdrawing halfway because of poor management, affecting the rental income of farmers; second, to prevent enterprises from changing land use without authorization, which can be used as a fine; and third, to prevent enterprises from engaging in predatory operation of land and damaging geology, the deposit can be used as land restoration fee.

As for the use of funds, according to the above-mentioned person, the "risk deposit" is managed by the "double escrow" accounts of each management station, and without violating the relevant regulations, the company will return it year by year after five years until the contract expires in full.