Following the heated discussion of farmers in Jianhua Town, Kailu County, Inner Mongolia, who were required to pay money before they could farm their land, a similar dispute over the change of land nature has once again attracted attention in Xiapu Village, Fujian Province. Mr. Jin, a non-local contractor, invested more than 14 million yuan in renting land in the local area for the breeding of "leather-sac star insects" (commonly known as Tuding), but soon after the launch, the local government asked him to return the land to cultivation and restore the original use of farmland.
It all started in 2018, when Mr. Jin subleased 252 acres of land from another farmer, Mr. Lin, for a period of 10 years, until it expires in 2028. The contract fee is 10 million yuan, plus the follow-up investment of insect seedlings, fertilizer, land preparation and other costs, the total investment in the early stage is as high as more than 14 million yuan.
However, not long after Mr. Jin took over, the local town government informed him that the land belonged to the category of basic farmland and asked him to "retire and return to farming". For Mr. Kim, who has just invested heavily in the capital, this is undoubtedly a slap in the face.
So, what is the nature of these lands? There are some differences of opinion from all sides. Village officials said that the land used to be paddy fields and belonged to farmland, but Mr. Hayashi, a former contractor, said that he was not told that it was farmland when he first contracted the land.
Mr. Jin's statement is a bit different, he said that although he knew that he had planted rice before, due to the frequent typhoons in the area, the crop yield was reduced or even wiped out all year round. In contrast, the soil and water quality conditions are suitable for the area, and it is expected to make considerable profits.
Villagers are open to renting out their land. They bluntly said that the income from long-term planting is low, so it is better to rent out the land to obtain a stable income, not to mention that the land in many surrounding villages is also rented out for breeding. "Profiting from land" has undoubtedly become a new way out for some rural areas.
At present, there is a certain disagreement between the two sides, the town government adheres to the principle of "returning to farmland" and uses excavators to forcibly renovate it in 2024, while Mr. Jin appeals to wait until the harvest of the seedlings before resuming the use of cultivated land as required. In order to minimize losses, the town government said it was communicating and coordinating with higher authorities and farmers.
There is no doubt that cultivated land protection is a hard indicator and a real problem. However, in specific operations, it is also necessary to adapt measures to local conditions and distinguish situations. Judging from the elaboration of Mr. Jin and others, the local farmland is affected by the climate, and the crop yield has been reduced for a long time, and there are some natural conditions. If we stubbornly persist in returning farmland to farmland, it will undoubtedly increase the burden on peasant households, and it will also deviate somewhat from the general direction of the current agricultural and rural modernization development.
In this case, we still hope to be able to solve the problem in a more pragmatic, reasonable and legal way. It is necessary not only to conscientiously protect the precious cultivated land resources, but also to fully listen to the voices of peasant households, and not to simply and bluntly suppress their survival plans. The two sides understand each other, and the government departments should have more humane considerations, innovatively explore a new path of "retirement to farming", and hope that through joint efforts, a win-win solution can finally be found.
However, on a larger scale, this contradiction still reflects some policy problems faced in the current process of rural modernization, that is, how to insist on the protection of cultivated land while giving farmers more room to profit and increase income. It is hoped that the future policy can give a higher level of solutions, truly achieve "according to the conditions of the village and local conditions", and highly unify the goal of rural revitalization with the practical interests of farmers, so that the "three rural" work will be stable and far-reaching.