China rulers discuss land reform

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Top leaders of China's Communist party are beginning a four-day meeting today, with the theme of countryside reform.

The third plenary session of the 17th central committee is to discuss what could be one of the most significant political reforms in three decades.

Officials will examine whether to give farmers more rights over the use of land allotted to them by the state.

Chinese media say such plenums often mark major developments and this one is to build "a new socialist countryside".

Reports suggest that among changes being considered are plans to enshrine in law the rights of rural citizens to transfer or rent out their land leases to other individuals or companies.

Since the break-up of massive communal farms three decades ago, individual families have been permitted to farm their land under 30-year government contracts.

The farms are small, however, averaging about 1.66 acres (0.67 hectare) in size, according to government figures, making it hard to run the farms profitably.

To maximise production, many farmers swap chunks of land to be held in common by the village. People leaving the village to work in richer coastal areas often lease farming rights to others in informal arrangements.

Village experiments

State media in recent days have been extolling the "success" of new farming arrangements in places such as Xiaogang village in Anhui province.

Chinese President Hu Jintao recently visited the village, where farmers are leasing their land to other farms or companies to run, for example, a pork farm and a vineyard.

Relating current reform efforts to the de-collectivisation of land in 1978, the China Daily described one farmer, 65-year-old Yan Jinchang, who it said had been brave enough to experiment 30 years ago.

Now, it reported, Mr Yan was experimenting again and was able to earn both from working his farm and from leasing land use rights.

The China Daily also quoted experts describing proposed reforms as allowing farmers to trade, rent or mortgage their land use rights for profits.

But, the reports warned, safeguards were necessary to protect farmers' livelihoods.

Growing frustration

The BBC's regional analyst Jill McGivering says the new approach shows that the Chinese leadership is aware of a growing frustration in rural areas.

Tens of millions of farmers are still effectively excluded from the country's recent decades of rapid growth and the new wealth it has brought. Agricultural land in China is owned by the state and subject to tight controls.

Our correspondent suggests farmers' political rights may be strengthened too as at the moment, their votes in effect count less than those from urban areas.

China's leaders are trying to steer the country through a difficult social and economic transition - and their priority is to keep things stable, with slow, centrally managed change, our analyst says.

The 204 members of the party's central committee are also expected to discuss further measures to strengthen the economy after interest rates were lowered on Wednesday as part of efforts to cope with global financial turmoil.

Chinese economic growth slowed in the second quarter of 2008, constrained by slowing demand for exports, rising prices and the high cost of credit.

Beijing has been trying to curb rising food costs amid fears of social unrest.