Author: Liang Li
AIT Library Call Number: AIT RSPR no.RD-07-01
Year: 2007
Academic Program: Regional and Rural Development Planning (RRDP)
Type: Research Studies Project Report (M.Sc.) – Asian Institute of Technology, 2007
Examination Committee: Jayant Kumar Routray (Chairperson); Gopal B. Thapa, Mokbul Morshed Ahmad (Examination Committee Members)
Abstract: Land policy reforms impact on poor households in rural China was studied using field survey, two case studies supported with secondary data including previous scholars’ research findings and outputs and literature reviews. The results demonstrated that China has launched a series of land policy reforms to improve land-use efficiency, to rationalize land allocation, to enhance land management, and to coordinate urban and rural development. These land policy reforms have yielded positive impacts on rural land use as well as negative socioeconomic consequences. The household responsibility system has proved a great success. There is no doubt that the system generates incentives for production by giving farmers freedom of land use rights and decision-making, linking rewards closely with their performance. As a result, China’s agriculture has been dramatically revived. Although the household responsibility system was a great success, as an institutional innovation it could not address everything. Several years of practice have exposed a number of limitations and weaknesses inherent in the system which could affect the livelihood of poor population in rural China. The major negative impact is failure to fully address the needs and rights of the poor people, egalitarian seems to be the confusion between the ownership and the use rights of land resource and lack of clear guidelines defining the economic relations between the central government, the local government and various economic entities and the inefficient allocation and use of natural resources resulted in unsuccessful implementation of the policies. The study also showed that although China has experienced rapid economic growth in the past 25 years, land degradation is serious and appears to be worsening. Population, urbanization and inappropriate institutional arrangements will continue to be the main causes of land degradation in China. The study recommended decentralization and farmers participation in decision making process capacity building and harmoni
Scholarship Donor(s): AIT Fellowship
Note: A research study submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science
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