The Experience of Land Circulation in Japan for the Promotion of Land Circulation in China

Summary: through the introduction of the effective measures taken in the process of land circulation in Japan, and after analyzing the characteristics of the land circulation system in Japan, this paper summarizes that only by constantly improving the legislation, giving full play to the positive role of the market economy, increasing financial support, and constantly training the quality of agricultural practitioners, and establishing agricultural cooperation organizations, can we promote the promotion of land circulation in China.
Keywords: japan, land circulation, system, China
1. Japanese Land Circulation System
1. The change of Japan's land system in the existing literature, the most detailed introduction to the reform of Japan's land system is the book "Japan's land system" by Japanese writer Guan Gu Jun, which divides the Japanese land system into three stages through a comprehensive textual research on the Japanese land system.
In the first stage, the Japanese government used strong means to abolish the feudal and semi-feudal land ownership system, and clearly stipulated the system of using self-cultivation farmers, and vigorously promoted the small-scale, family-based possession and management strategy represented by "the tiller has his land". For the first time, land ownership was combined with the right to use. From 1946 to 1950, the government chose to use tough measures to purchase landlowners' land and resell the acquired land to farmers who had no or little land at that time. After this series of land reforms, Japan finally established the system of self-cultivation in its own country. The proportion of self-cultivation rose to 88% of the total agricultural output, and the proportion of cultivated land even reached 90%. At this stage, the Japanese government controlled the scale of agricultural land within 3hm2. In order to further ensure the effectiveness of land reform, the Japanese government also promulgated the "Agricultural Land Law" in 1952. Since then, Japan has established a modern agricultural management method characterized by small-scale family management. In the early 1950 s, the total number of farmers in Japan was 6.18 million, with an average arable land area of 0.8 hm2 per household. Among this group of people, the number of farmers within 1hm2 was about 77.5 per cent of the total number, while the number of farmers within 2hm2 was only 3.5 per cent of the total population.
In the second stage, the Japanese government began to try to relax the restrictions on land ownership transfer, advocate land transfer and relatively centralized methods, and encourage farmers to consciously expand the scale of land ownership. The government formally introduced the "Basic Law on Agriculture" in 1961. Its main purpose is to greatly increase agricultural productivity and reduce the productivity gap between agriculture and the domestic secondary and tertiary industries. Efforts should be made to improve the income level of the agricultural population and reduce the gap between different employees. Therefore, in this law, the government pays great attention to the implementation of other measures to enhance farmers' enthusiasm for expanding agricultural production, which is mainly reflected in the amendment to the Basic Agricultural Law issued in 1962, which stipulates that the amount of land that farmers can own is limited to more than the 3hm2 limit required by the Agricultural Land Law issued in 1952, however, the premise is that this part of the farmer can only use the labor belonging to the family. The law also allows farmers who have left their villages to work in cities to entrust their land to small-scale agricultural cooperatives and ask them to farm instead.
In the third stage, the Japanese government shifted the core of agricultural land reform from ownership to use system. Under the premise of small-scale family possession of agricultural land, it encouraged the development of cooperative enterprises and expanded the scale of operation. The government encouraged farmers to separate land ownership and use rights. In the middle and late 20th century, the Japanese government gradually changed from encouraging the centralized possession of agricultural land by the agricultural population to the mode of decentralized possession and centralized operation. Since the 1970 s, the Japanese government has continuously introduced a number of laws and regulations to promote land reform and adjustment, encouraging farmers to minimize the problems caused by decentralized management through various forms of collaborative production such as farmland leasing and operation entrustment.
2. The characteristics of Japan's agricultural land transfer system First of all, the Japanese government according to the actual situation, timely and effective to improve the land system, is the key to ensure the smooth progress of land transfer. Through the timely and effective regulation of the tenancy relationship in the abandoned restricted agricultural land, the government has made a very useful attempt to promote the separation of agricultural land ownership and management rights, and finally laid the necessary foundation for the large-scale operation based on leasing. The Japanese government successively carried out deeper and larger-scale second and third revisions to the Agricultural Land Law in 1970 and 1982. The consequence of this revision is that the threshold for land leasing has been further reduced, and farmers are involved in it. The enthusiasm has been greatly improved. Since the government recognizes that farmers who leave the land have the right to lease land from the legal level, this provides necessary legal support for private land transfer. In the 1980 s, the Japanese government introduced the "Agricultural Land Use Promotion Law", which determined the lease of land and promoted the flow of land management rights. Secondly, the government actively set up cooperative economic organizations as intermediary agencies, which is a powerful measure to promote the smooth progress of land circulation. Agricultural cooperative organizations follow the principle of unified management and unified purchase. Thirdly, the Japanese government has also implemented a system called identifying farmers, which provides a very important guarantee for ensuring the direction of land transfer.
Enlightenment of 2. Japanese Land Transfer Experience to Promote the Development of Land Transfer in China
1. The government plays an active leading role. By analyzing the characteristics of different stages of agricultural land transfer in Japan, we can find that in the process of land transfer in Japan, the government has played a very important role in the policy formulation at the macro level, the policy support for intermediary organizations and the protection of farmers' rights and interests in the specific implementation process. The government's multi-party efforts have played a pivotal role in ensuring the smooth progress of land transfer. The author believes that in the process of promoting China's land circulation, the government should also give full play to the active leading role. Active legislation adjusts the current relevant laws and regulations on the premise of ensuring the unwavering implementation of the household contract management system. Specifically, we can start from the following three aspects: First, formulate laws and regulations suitable for land transfer. Second, following the laws of the market, government work is "not absent" and not "offside" in the management process ". Third, the government needs to give corresponding financial subsidies as appropriate. In the process of land transfer, farmers will inevitably bear some market risks. The government should give necessary subsidies to ensure that farmers participate in land transfer at lower risks.
2. Give full play to the intermediary role of agricultural cooperative organizations in the market. Japanese agricultural cooperative organizations have always played an important intermediary and bridge role in the process of agricultural land transfer. It is precisely because of the participation of agricultural cooperative organizations that land transfer has been qualitatively improved in terms of speed and efficiency. In view of its important role in land transfer, the Chinese government should also support it at the policy level.
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source: China Agricultural Economic Information Network | Time: August 26, 2015 | Responsible Editor: Zhai Tianchang