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"The world's toughest measures" will be taken regarding the use of farmland for urban development so that farmers will be protected from losing their livelihoods, the central government has pledged.

Farmers who lost their land to urban development and were not properly relocated were a major source of social "instability," said Chen Xiwen, a senior rural development official and deputy office chief of the Central Leading Group of Financial Work of the central government, at a high-level press briefing yesterday.

The briefing was held to explain the tasks in the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee's 2006 "Document No 1" or the nation's rural development program, which was released on Tuesday. At the same time, Chen pledged government compensation and relocation programs for farmers who have already lost their land.

Protecting farmland and landless farmers was crucial for China to implement its "new socialist countryside" program during the current Five-year Guidelines (2006-2010), Liu Shouying, a senior researcher with the State Council Development Research Center (DRC), told China Daily.

According to Chinese law, farmland acquisition for non-agricultural purposes can be approved only by central and provincial-level governments, Chen emphasized. And provincial governments were only permitted to make decisions on the use of limited acreage-- anything above that required the consent of central departments.

It has been made clear that economic development should make as small a claim as possible on the nation's precious farmland, Chen added.

Criminal Law prescribes a maximum of seven years' imprisonment for convicted law-breakers in farmland acquisition and transactions. In recent years there has been unrest among farmers as a result of the acquisitions and levels of compensation.

"The widening gap between urban and rural areas should be dealt with in earnest," Chen said. "For those farmers who have already lost land we should give them job training and social services."

According to Liu of the DRC the land protection system sets strict rules for local governments to follow when they plan farmland acquisitions for industrial and residential developments.

Although the system may help curb the reckless use of resources for non-agricultural purposes, he said, it cannot change the trend of more farmland being claimed by industry and urban developments. The current system would not cut the number of farmers being made landless,  Liu said.

The key point, however, was to properly protect farmers' rights while they were being asked to part with their land.

At yesterday's press conference Chen added that central government was studying more changes in acquisition so that farmers' rights and interests were better protected. Chen also said that the number of farmers was likely to continue to fall in the new socialist countryside as more and more people migrated to cities seeking employment.

The government continues to encourage farmers to take alternative work near their homes because of the limited infrastructure and actual job opportunities available in large cities. Chen said that for  farmers already in smaller cities the residence permit restrictions were being phased out for those with stable incomes.

(China Daily February 23, 2006)