Research Report on Forest Rights Transfer in Hebei Province
In order to implement the Central Committee Document No. 10 and the Hebei Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Hebei Provincial People's Government's "On Further Deepening the Reform of the Collective Forest Rights System" In the spirit of "Opinions" (Jifa [2009] No. 20), we conducted an in-depth investigation and study on the transfer of forest rights, further standardized the transfer of forest rights, and safeguarded the legitimate rights and interests of forestry operators. We organized a forest rights transfer across the province. Special investigation of the situation, the main situation is now reported as follows:
1. The development process of forest rights transfer in our province
In the 1980s, the country implemented the reform and opening up policy and rural land joint production contracting In the responsibility system, most of the mountainous areas in our province are divided into self-retention mountains and responsibility mountains. Farmers plant trees on the contracted self-retention mountains and responsibility mountains. In some places, large forestry contractors have emerged; some farmers in plain areas plant economic forests and fast-growing and high-yield crops on contracted land. In some places, collectively owned orchards are contracted to farmers for management, and the transfer of forest rights with the contract system as the main management form has developed rapidly. Beginning in 1986, as forestry construction shifted to engineered afforestation and people's demand for agricultural products increased, some farmers with financial strength began to purchase or contract collectively owned "four wasteland" lands. Especially around 1990, due to the relatively high price of fruit, High, the government introduced a series of preferential policies for the auction and contracting of the "Four Wilderness" lands, vigorously developing economic forestry became the mainstream of forestry production at that time, and joint households and large households contracted the "Four Wilderness" lands one after another to plant trees and fruits, using the auction system, large households The transfer of forest rights, symbolized by the contracted development of economic forests, has developed rapidly. In 2006, the reform of the collective forest rights system with "clear property rights" as the core was fully launched in our province. Forest rights were implemented to farmers or villager groups through "equal mountains", "equal profits", "equal shares" and other forms. Forest rights transfer, with household contracting, large household contracting, and joint-stock systems as the main business forms, has entered a new era of rapid development. According to statistics, so far, there have been 12,250 forest rights transfers in the province after forest reform, covering an area of ??1.972 million acres and involving an amount of 760 million yuan.
2. The main forms and characteristics of forest rights transfer in our province
(1) Contracting
Contracting to control the "four wasteland" lands and the construction of economic forests in our province This process is the most widely used and is currently the main form of forest rights transfer in our province. It mainly refers to contract operators contracting collective barren mountains, wasteland or individual reserved mountains, responsible mountains, etc. for afforestation and management and management. The contract period is generally 30-50 years, and some extend to 70 years. In addition to paying annual contract fees, the contractor , all proceeds belong to the individual. According to the nature of the contractor, it can be divided into family contracting, large household contracting, joint household contracting, unit contracting, and unit and farmer joint contracting. Some contractors are natural persons, and some are farmers, legal entities, or partnerships. This transfer method generally occurs in the contracting of large areas of wasteland suitable for forestation and long sections of canals, embankments, and roads. Li Guangtian of Huamu Village, Shahe City, contracted 3,000 acres of sandy land and barren hills, and invested more than 2 million yuan to plant apples, chestnuts, interplant medicinal materials and set up a breeding farm. Currently, the annual net income reaches 100,000 yuan. Neiqiu County Highway Management Station signed a 50-year contract with Nansai Village in Neiqiu County to contract 5,000 acres of barren hills. In the past seven years, the government has invested 7 million yuan to plant 300,000 economic forests such as chestnuts, Japanese persimmons, walnuts, Chinese longevity peaches, and apricots, and grafted 250,000 winter jujubes. Raise 3,000 ecological chickens and 40,000 fish in the contracted mountain. The "Queshan" brand stupid eggs currently produced have been registered as trademarks and are very popular.
(2) Auction
An auction is to sell collectively owned forest land and trees to buyers at a one-time price within a certain period of time through open bidding competition based on area or length. , and sign a sales contract, clarifying the rights, responsibilities and obligations of both parties. The purchaser shall conduct governance and development in accordance with laws, regulations and policies, operate and manage independently, and enjoy forest ownership, product disposal rights and income distribution rights. It is allowed during the purchase period Assignment, subletting and inheritance. The auction system embodies the principles of "fairness, impartiality and openness" to a large extent and is relatively popular among the masses. In this form of transfer, the transaction price is generally higher than the reserve price, which is conducive to maximizing the value of collective forest resource assets.
Lincheng County currently has 6 provincial-level units, 8 municipal-level units, 26 county-level units, factories and mines, and has established more than 30 green entities. They have purchased barren hills through auctions and have afforestation of 150,000 acres to high standards. During the forestry reform work in Xiadahudian Village, Xiaoyingzi Town, Qinglong County, the village collective tendered and auctioned 901 acres of barren hills to 36 farmers with 70-year rights to use them. The village collective collected a contract fee of 160,000 yuan, all of which was used for ecological purposes. For the construction of a civilized village, each person in the village has reduced the amount of funds raised for public welfare projects by 200 yuan.
(3) Mortgage
Mortgage means that the forest rights owner uses the ownership or use rights as a guarantee for the creditor's rights without transferring the ownership and use rights. When debts become due, the mortgagee may dispose of the ownership or use rights in accordance with the law and receive priority repayment from the proceeds, thus causing the ownership or use rights to change. Forest rights mortgage loans turn "dead capital" in the hands of forest rights owners into living funds, which can help farmers meet their production needs. Judging from the current reality in the province, mortgage is the most widely carried out, most active, and most popular method of transfer among farmers. All parties are also very supportive of forest rights mortgage loans. Our province has successively issued the "Hebei Province Rural Credit Cooperatives Forest Rights Mortgage Loans Management Measures (Trial)" and the "Guidance on Promoting Forest Rights Mortgage Loans", and Langfang City has also issued the " "Implementation Opinions on Strengthening Forest Rights Mortgage Loans and Promoting the Reform of the Collective Forest Rights System", the province has mortgaged a total of 222,000 acres of forest land, with a loan amount of 310 million yuan. The amount of forest rights mortgage loans in Zhuolu and Chicheng counties in Zhangjiakou alone is close to 70 million yuan, and there are 13 counties in the province with mortgage loan amounts exceeding 10 million yuan.
(4) Stock cooperation
Share cooperation is a new business form explored and developed by drawing on the successful experience of enterprise management systems in the process of forestry economic system reform. It generally exists in the form of an enterprise, and forest rights holders use their ownership or use rights as capital contributions to purchase shares. Joint-stock cooperative forestry is mostly formed spontaneously in practice. The specific operating methods are negotiated and formulated by all parties with interests. The methods vary widely. There are mainly joint-stock cooperative forms such as state-owned enterprises and public institutions and collectives and large forestry contractors, companies and companies, or companies and foreign investors. . Lincheng County "Green Ridge Fruit Industry Co., Ltd." has 48 shares owned by employees of the former County Telecommunications Bureau, raised more than 4 million yuan, and contracted 4,000 acres of barren hills to plant walnuts, grass, and raise chickens for three-dimensional development and ecological construction. The high-efficiency forest orchard park with high-tech added value has generated an annual net income of more than 1 million yuan in recent years. At the same time, the company has established a board of directors and a board of supervisors, which fully comply with the requirements of a modern enterprise.
(5) Leasing
Leasing means that the investor pays forest land use fees or forest resource use fees to the forest rights owner or individual, and the fee is paid once a year or every few years. , the rent varies, and the lease period is generally 30-50 years. During the lease period, the ownership of the trees and forest land remains unchanged. The lessee has the right to use the forest land or the ownership of the forest trees for a certain period of time, and operates and manages it independently on the basis of the unified planning of the forestry department, and all profits belong to the lessee. Zhangjiakou Rongchen Economic and Trade Industrial Company leased 1,800 acres of wasteland in Xiaoqiying Village, Xiaonanxinbao Township, Huailai County, and invested in the development of a grape base. It signed a lease contract with the village collective and notarized it. It has invested 20 million yuan in planting grapes. 600,000 grapes were planted, and a winery with an annual output of 4 million tons was built, forming a modern ecological manor integrating grape planting, winemaking, marketing and tourism. It also provided employment opportunities for more than 500 people in townships and villages, and promoted surrounding areas. The grape growing industry is developing towards high-quality, efficient and large-scale development.
(6) Other forms
In the research, we learned that there are many forms of forest rights transfer, such as village investment and household management, corporate farmers, subcontracting and individual operations, and state subsidies. . In particular, the business model of corporate farmers, namely "commodity order forestry" or "contract order forestry", is a development trend in establishing commercial forests and economic forests in plain areas. It also uses contracts to protect the interests of both parties and promote intensive forestry management and scientific management. valid form.
Quzhou County Hebei Saibo Board Industry Co., Ltd. signed a fast-growing and high-yield forest construction contract with farmers, clarifying the responsibilities and obligations of both parties. The company will provide a certain proportion of seedling payment (1/2-1/3), and pay no less than the market price. Purchase qualified wood at protected prices. Farmers are responsible for planting and management, and the payment for the seedlings will be deducted by the enterprise when settling the products sold.
3. The importance of forest rights transfer
(1) Increasing forestry financing channels
Through forest rights transfer, forest management entities have been identified and the society has been mobilized. Enthusiasm to invest in forestry construction. Farmers can not only develop forestry on their own, but also transfer their forestland through various forms such as transfer, contracting, and leasing, allowing other forces with greater economic capabilities and technical level to operate and manage forestry production. The investors after the transfer of forest rights include farmers, urban residents, employees of enterprises and institutions, private owners, etc., and even enterprises and institutions and foreign capital. A large amount of social funds flowed to forestry development, forming a situation where the country, collectives and individuals worked together, injecting new vitality into forestry development. From 2007 to 2009, Shexian County’s non-public manufactured forest area reached 83,000 acres. It also developed leading non-public forest-related enterprises such as Sanli, Sanzhen, and Huanghuanglong. The non-public economy has been directly involved in seedling cultivation, afforestation, forest land economy, and forest management. Product processing and forest management and other fields have injected new vitality and vitality into the economic development of the forestry industry in Shexian County.
(2) Promote farmers to increase their income and become rich
Through the transfer of forest land use rights, farmers can truly invest heavily in forest land, carefully manage and protect it, and rationally harvest, thereby increasing their income. In 2009, the total forestry income of farmers in Chicheng County was 250 million yuan, 6.6 times that of the past. In addition, the transfer of forest rights can also revitalize forestland and "four wasteland" land resources, increasing the efficiency of forestry and increasing farmers' income. The village collective transfers the village's forest land, "four wasteland" and other resources. On the one hand, farmers can share the rental income, and they can also continue to plant under the forest or participate in afforestation to receive labor fees. It can be said that they kill two birds with one stone. Zhao Qiusheng, a villager in Taipingyu, Xiling Town, Yixian County, contracted 100 acres of barren hills for 60,000 yuan for 30 years, planted Mopan persimmons, black locusts, etc., and planted medicinal materials under the forest. The annual income from medicinal materials is several thousand yuan, Mopan Persimmons can be harvested and sold for money after 5 years, so it is not a problem to recover the investment and obtain profits.
(3) Improving the level of forestry management
The forestry production cycle is relatively long. In the past, in many places, due to the unclear ownership of forest property rights, there was a disconnect between responsibilities, rights and interests, and there was a lack of effective profit drivers. Mechanism has resulted in extensive forestry management, low efficiency and waste of resources. After the transfer of forest rights, due to clear property rights and unified responsibilities, rights and interests, the enthusiasm of operators has been greatly improved, and economic benefits have been significantly improved. Many people in Zanhuang County often go to the forestry department to consult on forest fruit technology and policies and information on developing underforest industries. The management level and market awareness of fruit farmers in the county have significantly improved. In 2009, 430,000 acres of orchards in the county became green. Pollution-free production, the high-quality fruit rate has reached over 85%. In the development of forestry industry, forest farmers have changed from "dare not to invest" in the past to "willing to invest". They have also vigorously developed underforest industries, wood processing, fruits, medicinal materials, forest tourism and other projects, which have not only increased their own income, but also It will help promote the adjustment of rural industrial structure. Since 2007, Shexian County has developed an economic forest area of ??15,000 acres, planted 1.28 million walnuts and peppercorns, planted more than 5 million scattered fruit trees, developed an underforest Chinese herbal medicine planting area of ??26,000 acres, raised 200,000 free-range chickens, and developed There are a number of special ecological tourism projects such as the "Farmhouse" in Dongshan Village, the "Picking Garden" in Sanjie Village, Jingdian Town, and the "Sightseeing Garden" in Xigou Village, Liaocheng Township.
IV. The main problems existing in the current forest rights transfer
(1) The forest rights transfer system is not perfect. In the transfer of forest rights, although various places have explored practices such as "price contracting" and "buying and selling of forests" to transfer forest land use rights and forest ownership through bidding, auctions and other methods, there is a lack of operational laws, regulations and policies to support it. , causing the transfer of forest rights to be still in the spontaneous stage.
Although the "Land Contract Law", "Forest Law", "Notice of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Transfer of Farmers' Contracted Land Use Rights", "Implementation Opinions of the State Forestry Administration on Effectively Strengthening the Management of Transfer of Collective Forest Rights", etc. Laws, regulations, and policies have provided for the transfer of forest rights in principle, but there are no supporting implementation details. In terms of specific operations, localities are still "crossing the river by feeling for the stones," with small-scale transfers and irregular transfer procedures.
(2) The construction of forest rights transfer service platform is imperfect. At present, 23 counties (cities) in our province have established forest rights transfer service centers to provide services for forest rights transfer, forest rights mortgage loans, etc., but they are far from meeting the needs of forest rights transfer. Some key forestry counties and areas with greater demand for forest rights transfer have not yet established forest rights transfer service centers, which restricts the transfer of forest rights. Across the province, a forest resource asset evaluation system has not yet been established, and there is a lack of qualified professional evaluation institutions and evaluators. At the same time, the current national regulations on the qualifications of assessment institutions and personnel are out of touch with actual work needs. The asset assessments implemented in the forest rights transfers that have been carried out are mostly collegial assessments with the participation of representatives from all parties. Although they have a certain degree of openness and rationality, they lack legality, accuracy and scientificity.
(3) The operation of forest rights transfer is not standardized enough. In some places, the transfer of forest rights does not follow the procedures stipulated by law and the operation is irregular. The contracting of collective forest land was not announced in advance within the collective economic organization, and was not approved by more than two-thirds of the villagers' meeting members or more than two-thirds of the villagers' representatives, but was decided by the village committee; the transferred forestland was not subject to professional asset evaluation. , often the transaction can be completed by consensus between the buyer and the seller, resulting in some transfer prices being too low, harming the interests of forest farmers; some transfers of forest rights have not been registered and changed with the forestry department, causing potential disputes; in some places, the transfer contracts are not standardized and the contracts The content of the terms and conditions is unclear, incomplete, and contains serious loopholes.
V. Countermeasures and Suggestions
(1) Establish and improve the forest rights transfer system. It is necessary to adhere to the principles of legality, voluntariness, and compensation, and encourage the subcontracting, leasing, and exchange of forestland contracting management rights and forest tree ownership without changing the nature of collective ownership of forestland, changing the use of forestland, or damaging farmers' rights and interests in forestland contracting and management. , transfer, shareholding, mortgage or as a condition for investment or cooperation, scientifically manage forest land and improve forest quality and comprehensive benefits. Speed ??up the issuance of the "Opinions of the People's Government of Hebei Province on Regulating the Management of Collective Forest Rights Transfer" to guide the healthy and orderly development of forest rights transfer. Accelerate the establishment and improvement of a tangible market for the circulation of forest resources. Each district and city must build a forest rights circulation management service center to undertake the guidance and management of the circulation of forest land and trees. Key forestry counties must build county-level forest rights circulation service centers, and the village level must be equipped with Specialized circulation information officer. Standardize transaction rules, ensure fair transactions, and provide high-quality services for transactions.
(2) Strengthen forest resource asset assessment and management. It is recommended to the State Forestry Administration that the Provincial Forestry Bureau should first carry out forest resource asset assessment work, strive to obtain the identification and management authorization of forest resource asset assessment agencies, and identify a group of forest resource asset assessment experts from units with forest resource survey qualifications to solve the current problem. Regarding the disconnection between qualification regulations and actual work requirements, we need to strengthen the construction of forest resource asset assessment institutions and teams, standardize the asset assessment behavior in the transfer of forest rights, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of all parties to the transaction.
(3) Strengthen the circulation supervision mechanism. Establish a long-term and effective forest rights transfer supervision mechanism, effectively strengthen the supervision and inspection of forest rights transfer procedures, transfer contracts, transfer methods, etc., increase the punishment of fraud, malicious bidding, and forced buying and selling, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of forest farmers. Inviolable.
(4) Improve the service guarantee system. Regularly or irregularly organize experts and scholars from colleges and universities, scientific research units, land, judicial and other departments to conduct training and teaching at the grassroots level, strengthen operators' learning of forestry laws, regulations, policies and management, technology, etc., and guide them to carry out operations in accordance with the law. In forestry production, we should vigorously promote fine varieties and advanced practical technologies, continuously increase the scientific and technological content, implement intensive management, and improve economic benefits.
Policy and Regulations Division (Forest Reform Office)
December 10, 2010