Towards sustainable rural development in Central and Eastern Europe: Applying land consolidation

Over the past twenty years, social and economic decline in rural areas has intensified in the Central and Eastern European countries. A precondition for the reversal of this decline is the implementation of new policies in relation to the fundamentals of land ownership and management. In addition to addressing the problems of land ownership fragmentation, these should include measures to improve agricultural production and employment, taxation policy, and legislation to protect land ownership rights, within the context of acknowledging environmental and sustainability considerations. In Europe, the requirement for readjusting unfavourable land fragmentation and promoting the appropriate use of land combining with positive environmental solutions is expected to create new sustainable land management systems. The consolidation of land ownerships may be an effective and active land management instrument which not only addresses the problems of land fragmentation, but also, if applied sensitively, may be an instrument for delivering sustainable rural development in a wider context. The aim of this research is to investigate land consolidation as an essential tool to create sustainable rural areas in Lithuania.     

Fragmentation of land ownership in Slovakia: Evolution,context, analysis and possible solutions

Land ownership fragmentation is currently a very topical issue in Slovakia. In particular, small farmers complain that even 30 years after the end of the previous (“real socialist”) regime, there has been no significant change in the structure of agricultural land use. The subject of the article is not the land fragmentation in terms of use. In Slovakia, the problem is rather the opposite. This contribution deals with fragmentation of ownership that is mostly invisible in the landscape. Usage still dominates over the ownership and the real landowner cannot get his or her own property in a simple way. The reason for this is huge fragmentation of land ownership, which makes it virtually impossible to actually claim it. Well known solution is the land consolidation that does not advance at a rate that would guarantee the rights (and obligations) of all owners in the foreseeable future in Slovakia. Neglecting the land fragmentation by authorities leads to tense situations between landowners and land tenants and also co-causes a stagnation of rural development and issues with landscape protection. The paper describes the specific state of land ownership in Slovakia and attempts to explain this complicated situation on a sample of 50 historical and modern ownership documents. This contribution has the ambition to specify the largely yet unresolved problems that arise from the current state of massive fragmentation of land ownership. The aim of the paper is also to fill in the information gap on the topic, not only in the national context.     

Impact of land fragmentation and non-agricultural labor supply on circulation of agricultural land management rights

This study quantitatively examines the effects of land fragmentation and non-agricultural labor supply on the circulation of agricultural land management rights. The examination is conducted from the perspective of labor heterogeneity and family joint decision-making, using the rural fixed observation point data from the Ministry of Agriculture of the People's Republic of China. The results reveal that land fragmentation significantly affects circulation decisions of agricultural land circulation. Land fragmentation strengthens the effect of non-agricultural labor supply on agricultural land outflow, and this effect is more pronounced among females. Compared with males, the female non-agricultural labor supply has a greater effect on agricultural land circulation. When non-agricultural labor supply increases, the effect of the female non-agricultural labor supply on agricultural land circulation becomes significant, land outflows increase, and land inflows decrease. In the areas of eastern, central, and northeastern China, the female non-agricultural labor supply has a significant impact on agricultural land outflow. Furthermore, the number of land plots strengthens the effect of the non-agricultural labor supply on the outflows of agricultural land in eastern and northeastern China; this effect is more pronounced for females in northeastern China. The government and related departments should strengthen non-agricultural employment training, and design conditions and policies to promote the orderly transfer of household labor, thus achieving intense agricultural development in the process of human urbanization.     

Impacts and causes of land fragmentation, and lessons learned from land consolidation in South Asia

Landholdings and land parcels in South Asia are undergoing fragmentation, thereby accelerating the pace of their degradation and constraining agricultural development. Based on experiences gained in the region and elsewhere, this paper finds the fragmentation of small landholdings and tiny land parcels detrimental to land conservation and economic gain, thereby discouraging farmers from adoption of agricultural innovations. Primarily induced by the dependency of the major proportion of ever growing population on agriculture, the process of land fragmentation has been reinforced by the law of inheritance of paternal property, lack of progressive tax on inherited land, heterogeneous land quality and an underdeveloped land market. South Asian countries have had adopted policies and legal measures for facilitating land consolidation. However, desirable results were not achieved, as such interventions could not address structural causes of the problem. Broad policy and legal measures have been outlined for facilitating land consolidation in a sustainable way.     

农地确权、土地细碎化与农户生产要素投入决策——来自广东粤北山区农户的调查分析

文章基于中国农地确权制度改革的政策背景,以及备受关注的土地细碎化的资源特征,构建“产权权利界定、产权资源特性与农户生产要素投入”的理论分析框架,借助广东粤北山区阳山县农户的调查数据,采用条件混合处理模型的计量结果表明:农地确权未能有效激励农户的生产要素投入行为,但土地细碎化显著抑制了农户雇佣劳动力和机械服务购买行为,还显著促进了化肥施用。进一步纳入农地确权和土地细碎化的交互项的模型结果表明,农地确权与土地细碎化两者之间不存在互补或替代的交互效应。采用中介机制、子样本分析等模型验证了上述结论的稳健性。由此认为,农地确权政策的影响具有情境依赖性,不可教条式地过度吹捧农地确权政策的生产投入影响效应;对于丘陵山区地带而言,农业政策应从聚焦于地权制度改革调整到缓解农地细碎化问题上。这不仅对激励农业生产要素的投入具有必要性与紧迫性,而且也有利于农地“减肥”,缓解中国日益紧迫的农业资源环境问题。     

Changes resulting from a land consolidation project (LCP) and its resource–environment effects: A case study in Tianmen City of Hubei Province,China

Land consolidation (LC) is essential for ensuring rural development and for increasing land use effectiveness. LC has been implemented in China since the mid-1990s in an attempt to increase available cropland area, reduce fragmentation and promote agricultural production capacity. The purpose of this study is to identify the changes resulting from the land consolidation project (LCP) implementation, and to develop a parametric approach to assess the resource–environment effects. This study could promote the LCP planning, and provide the support for the decision-making of the LC authorities. The Tianmen land consolidation project in Hubei Province of China was chosen as a case study. The results of the case study showed LCP implementation results in great changes in land use types and their proportions, connectivity of field-roads, irrigation systems and drainage systems, plot numbers, plot shape and plot size. These changes bring both positive and negative effects to region environmental and economic system. Positive effects were demonstrated in agricultural production capacity and agricultural production cost and the negative effects were expressed by the ecosystem services value, landscape diversity and human disturbance intensity.     

Rural land system reforms in China: History,issues, measures and prospects

Land system reform (LSR) helps to protect farmers' rights and interests and national food security. China is a country dominated by agriculture but insufficient arable land resources. The contradiction between man and land is prominent. To alleviate the man-land contradiction, the Chinese government has carried out a series of LSRs, especially in the past half century. Extensive and in-depth studies have been done on the process and stage characteristics of China's LSRs, but the systematic analysis on the necessity, problems and key measures to deepen the land system reform is still insufficient. Based on a systematic review of the history of the evolution of China's LSRs, this study firstly analyzed the key issues and new challenges existing in or arising from China's land system, then put forward the necessity of deepening the reform of land system, and discussed specific measures taken to deepen the reform of land system in China at present and finally pointed out the future LSR’s direction. The results show that China's rural LSR has gone through five stages in general since 1949. The key problems existing or arising from the current land system in China include unclear subject of land property right, serious inefficient utilization of land resources, rapid farmland conversion and conflict between farmers’ interests and land system. The dual land system in urban and rural areas has severely restricted the integration of social and economic development in this country. The Chinese government is actively promoting the reforms of rural agricultural land, collective operating construction land and homestead to further remove the dual institutional barriers that hinder the establishment of an integrated land trading market. The vision is good, but there is still a long way to go for China's LSR. The direction of China's rural LSR is to make the property rights relationship clearer, the farmland rights more complete, the transfer transactions more market-oriented and the property rights’ protection more equal. Deepening the rural LSRs is helpful to improve the efficiency of land resource utilization, safeguard the rights and interests of farmers, promote the coordination of human-land relationship, and inject new vitality and momentum into rural revitalization. Cooperative promotion of land resource capitalization reform and household registration system reform is the key area of land system reform in China in the future.     

不同模式农地整治对耕地细碎化的影响效应 及其区域差异 ——来自湖北省江汉平原与武陵山区的经验证据

研究目的：基于湖北省江汉平原、武陵山区483份农户调查数据,分析不同模式农地整治对耕地细碎化的影响效应及其区域差异,探求适应现代农业发展的耕地细碎化治理新路径。研究方法：综合指数法、双重差分模型。研究结果：（1）政府主导模式和新农主导模式通过促进地块集中连片的土地平整工程,改善农业生产关系的权属调整工作,共同降低自然因素和产权因素造成的耕地细碎化;（2）相对于政府主导模式,新农主导模式定位于现代农业发展,农地流转与农地整治的耦合度更高,土地平整工程和权属调整的比例更高,对耕地细碎化的治理效果也更为明显;（3）与丘陵山区农地整治相比,平原地区农地整治更能显著降低耕地细碎化。研究结论：建议继续大力实施政府主导模式和新农主导模式的农地整治,结合区域自然资源禀赋、产业布局、区位优势,总结和完善农地整治的地域模式,因地制宜地推进土地平整工程和权属调整工作,全面促进现代农业高质量发展。     

中国农村土地要素市场化改革探源

基于政府与市场关系,运用产权理论与新结构经济学理论,探讨农村土地要素市场化的政策史流变、经济学意涵和制度性创新。研究表明,第一,改革开放以来市场在土地资源配置中的作用经历了由辅助性到基础性再到决定性的历史转变,农村土地要素市场化也经历了改革探索期、改革发展期与改革深化期。第二,土地要素市场化的经济学本质是土地转让权的赋予,赋予农户充分、完整且有保障的土地转让权具有理论必要性和现实必然性。第三,未来的农村土地要素市场化改革,一方面要培育有效市场,以土地产权制度改革为主线,做好产权界定、产权配置和产权保护工作;另一方面要建设有为政府,以土地管理制度改革为依托,做好数量管控、用途管制和市场监管工作。     

安徽省农地流转绩效差异分析

[目的]正确认识安徽省农地流转工作成果,剖析不同地区农地流转绩效差异,探讨有效提高农地流转绩效措施,对改革和完善农地政策具有重大现实意义。[方法]文章利用安徽省皖北、江淮和皖南3个区域农地流转情况调查数据和其他相关资料,运用层次分析法和模糊评价法构建农地流转绩效评价体系,综合分析农地流转绩效区域差异表现及原因。[结果]研究表明:(1)3个区域的农地流转绩效主要与区域内农村社会发展是否得到重视、农户家庭是否全面发展和流转工作是否落实有关,三者形成的合力最终导致综合绩效的差异;(2)农地流转绩效的提升是一项受多重因素影响的系统性工作,包括政策方针、经济发展和社会保障等方面。[结论]研究认为安徽省农地流转工作成果值得肯定,为进一步完善相关工作,建议综合协调各方资源,借鉴成功工作经验,大力发展地区经济、推广土地整治工作、加强农地经营权交易市场和社会保障体系建设。     

Effects of land lease policy on changes in land use,mechanization and agricultural pollution

Land fragmentation has restrained the development of Chinese agriculture with the application of agricultural machinery. Meanwhile, agricultural pollution has caused serious problems with development. To address these problems, China's government proposed a new farmland lease policy and built larger farms beginning in 2013. However, changes in land fragmentation may also have unexpected problems for Chinese agriculture. This study investigated the effects of these changes on changes in land use, the application of machinery and agricultural pollution. We analyzed a developed area (in the fields of both agriculture and industry) and studied the decision-making habits of farmers in the area. An agent-based model was proposed with the same decision-making habits as in the real world. The results indicated that land lease increased agricultural profits very little in Jiangsu, China. Meanwhile, the application of land lease policy increased pollution. To alleviate pollution and increase profits, a new policy for large automatic protection machinery (i.e., large spraying machinery) should be introduced by governments simultaneous with land lease policy. Farmers could realize greater profits through the introduction of land lease policy and high-efficiency machinery. The sustainable development of agriculture in Jiangsu requires the integration of these government policies.     

耕地细碎化对农户家庭兼业化的影响及机制

研究目的：探讨耕地细碎化对农户家庭兼业化的影响及机制,为推动土地适度规模化经营和保障农民收入提供决策参考。研究方法：基于全国农村固定观察点2009—2020年的12期面板数据,采用随机森林模型筛选变量,实证检验了耕地细碎化对农户家庭兼业化程度的影响及机制。研究结果：（1）耕地细碎化显著促进了农户家庭兼业化。经过一系列稳健性检验后,该结论依旧成立。（2）机制检验结果表明,耕地细碎化可以通过提高农业生产成本、降低种植业收入影响农户家庭兼业化程度。（3）异质性分析发现,耕地细碎化对农户家庭兼业化的促进作用在二兼农户、“离农”氛围浓郁以及位于丘陵山区的村庄中更为突出。研究结论：应从推动土地适度规模化经营、促进种植业生产节本增效以及因地制宜保障农户差异化生计需求等方面破解耕地细碎零散、农户分化延缓的问题,从而推动农业现代化发展,保障国家粮食安全。     

乡村振兴与农村土地制度改革

我国正处于城乡中国的发展阶段,社会经济面临着转型升级的持续变迁,农业和乡村发展面临的环境条件发生了实质性变化,本文重点探讨如何通过农村土地制度创新以促进乡村振兴。研究结果表明,我国社会经济发展所处的特殊时代背景决定了我国乡村振兴的路径选择必须从乡村内部出发,寻找撬动实现乡村振兴的支点。要围绕"实权"与"流动"两个维度深化农村土地制度改革,为乡村振兴提供土地制度保障。"实权"是要将农地产权落到实处,相关的法律法规条文要明确农地各项产权权能的内含、外延,要把农地产权落实到具体的权利主体身上。"流动"是要在保证粮食安全和国家安全的前提下,在土地利用空间规划的管控下,实现土地资源的自由市场流动。     

Compliance of land cover changes with municipal land use planning: Evidence from the Lisbon metropolitan region (1990–2007)

In the past few decades, urbanisation has become a major phenomenon in European cities, thus representing one of the key human land cover changes with socio-economic and environmental impacts. In the Lisbon metropolitan region it is estimated that 17% of natural and farmland have been transformed into artificial areas. Since the end of 1990s, specific EU guidelines have been issued to contain urban sprawl and preserve agricultural land. Spatial planning in Portugal obviously is integrating these assumptions into the statutory land-use master plans. But what is the performance of this land use planning system regarding land cover evolution itself? Based on the Lisbon metropolitan region (LMR), one of the major areas of urban growth in Portugal, we examine spatio-temporal land cover patterns between 1990 and 2007 by integrating cross-matrix analysis, spatial metrics, and gradient analysis. Additionally, we overlay these land cover dynamics with municipal master plans that regulate land development in order to assess the compliance levels of this land-use regulatory system. Results indicate that: artificial areas are growing by coalescence and/or by scattered development along an urban–rural gradient; agricultural land is reducing and fragmentation is increasing to enlarge peri-urban spaces; there are high levels of conversion of agricultural land into urban land in protected areas, thus showing a lack of compliance to the land use regulatory system visible in the existing gaps between the original land-use assignments of the master plan and the actual developments.     

新农村建设与农地使用制度改革

改革开放以来我国农地使用制度经历了丰富的变迁历程。农地使用制度是新农村建设的重要内容和制度保障，新农村建设将推动农地使用制度改革进一步深化。作为农地使用的主要方式，目前土地承包经营制度还不能适应新农村建设的需要，应从推进农地配置的市场化、使用方式多样化、促进农地流转、扩展农地使用权的权能、加强保护等方面改革现行土地承包经营制度。     

林地与农地制度变革的比较：产业特性的视角

土地制度改革一直是关系农村发展及社会稳定的重大问题。本文从产业特性的差异出发，对改革开放后林地与衣地制度改革路径中的制度安排与改革影响进行了比较，认为制度安排具有与产业特性相容的内在诉求，由于产业特性差异，林地制度对农地制度的简单复制难以凑效且不可持续，深化集体林权制度改革需要重视对林业特征的考察。     

Breaking with the past? The politics of land restitution and the limits to restitutive justice in Myanmar

Land reforms, which include restitution and redistribution of land, often accompany political transitions, as new regimes attempt to break with the past by establishing new modes of governance. The political transition that began in Myanmar in 2011 provides one such example. In Myanmar’s ‘rice bowl’, the Ayeyarwady Delta, widespread land confiscations during the 1990s and 2000s facilitated the establishment of large fish farms, often at the expense of smallholder cultivators who worked agricultural lands without formal use rights. Reforms initiated in 2011 appeared to offer the prospect of restitutive land justice for rural households affected by land confiscation, but this promise has been slow to materialize. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in the Delta, this paper analyzes the narratives and strategies deployed by different groups of state and societal actors advocating for and against land restitution, focusing on the competing uses of two concepts: legality and legitimacy. In doing so, we explore how state-society relations in Myanmar have been reworked through these processes of contestation, and examine possibilities for, and limits to, progressive land reform during political transition.     

论农地政策对农民财产权利的限制与扩张

农地政策反映国家和政府对农地问题的意志和态度。现行农地政策重在保障农村社会的稳定,提高农业生产,在相当长一段历史时期内适应了我国农村社会经济的发展。但是以严格限制农地流转和农地转用为特征,以行政控制为方式的农地政策不能适应社会化大生产对农村规模经济发展的要求。国外的农地政策大多也走过了从严格限制到相对宽松,从行政控制到市场调节的发展历程。本文通过对我国现有农地政策进行分析,并借鉴国外农地政策经验,提出农地政策不是僵硬的教规,灵活运用和适时改变农地政策可以增加农民财富,满足农民对农地利用的诉求。     

乡村工业化模式与农村土地制度变迁——一项对沿海地区集体经营性建设用地制度的研究

不同于一般的农地制度创新,沿海农村的土地制度变迁属于集体经营性建设用地的范畴,其核心是土地开发权的界定问题。乡村工业化既推动了土地开发权从国家向集体转移,也影响了这一权利的配置方向。本文研究发现,不同乡村工业化模式形塑出不同的土地制度,珠三角的外资充裕型、苏南的外资竞争型、浙江的内生资本稀缺型工业化模式,分别产生了保护股民利益的土地共有制,强调政府统筹能力的土地集体所有制与有利内生资本积累的"公有私占"的土地制度类型,三者都在一定程度上推动了区域性工业生产要素的优化配置。这表明,评价土地制度的绩效,必须着重考虑具体的工业化模式。当前,中国正处于全球资本竞争与产业升级的重要时期,仍然需要发挥土地集体所有制统筹土地开发权的优势,为建立服务于工业发展的高水平公共服务体系提供保障,同时,也应当加强土地的再分配功能,保护农民共享经济发展成果的权利,提高土地集体所有制的制度合法性。     

Assessing the relationship between land tenure issues and land cover changes around the Arabuko Sokoke Forest in Kenya

Land as an essential resource is becoming increasingly scarce due to population growth. In the case of the Kenyan coast, population pressure causes land cover changes in the Arabuko Sokoke Forest, which is an important habitat for endangered species. Forest and bushland have been changed to agricultural land in order to provide livelihood for the rural population who are highly dependent on small-scale farming. Unclear land rights and misbalanced access to land cause uncontrolled expansion and insecure livelihoods. Secure land rights are crucial to improve living conditions for the local smallholders. Socio-economic and land tenure conditions were assessed in a study area close to Malindi in south-east Kenya to understand the human-induced changes in land cover. A combination between biophysical and socio-economic methods was used to identify the relationship between land cover change, land tenure and other socio-economic factors. Analyses in Geographic Information System (GIS) were chosen to examine in historical photographs and recent satellite imagery land cover changes between 1954 and 2017. This analysis was combined with quantitative questionnaires conducted on-site in 2017 and 2018 to identify factors influencing the land cover changes and especially to analyze the effects of land tenure on sustainable land use to reduce further land conversion. Moreover, this study statistically investigated the impact of land tenure issues on the tree population of the respective land plots using non-parametric tests as well as dependency analyses. We found significant relationships between the income of the interviewees and the tree population on land plots. It also appears that the fragmentation of land cover on a plot differs between respondents who have inherited their land and respondents who have purchased their land.