Farmers’ Satisfaction with Land Expropriation System Reform: A Case Study in China

Chenxi Li,Zenglei Xi,Jingyao Wu,Weiqiang Zhang

doi:10.3390/land10121353

Abstract

Farmers’ satisfaction with reform of the land expropriation system has not been fully examined, so it is difficult to comprehensively and successfully judge the effectiveness of the reforms. Traditional statistical methods cannot accurately explain the relationship between the variables. In order to fully understand the implementation, progress, and applicability of land expropriation system reform, this paper analyzes the factors influencing farmers’ satisfaction, presents the shortcomings of land expropriation system reform, and puts forward improvement suggestions. Taking the land expropriation system reform pilot in Dingzhou city as an example, this paper investigates the satisfaction of the farmers who have had their land expropriated by establishing a structural equation model (SEM) to obtain feedback on the implementation effect of the pilot work. The results show that the factors affecting farmers’ satisfaction with the reform of land expropriation systems can be summarized into four variables: land expropriation compensation standard, land income distribution, land expropriation security mode, and land expropriation procedure. The parameter estimation between these four potential variables and their corresponding observation variables shows that, in the process of land expropriation, the comparison of land expropriation compensation standards and observation variables with market entry projects is an important factor affecting the satisfaction of farmers with regard to land expropriation. The income of municipal and county governments and village collective incomes have a great impact on farmers, indicating that the satisfaction of farmers is not only related to the absolute level of compensation and income, but is also affected by the relative level. In addition, providing farmers with a variety of reasonable security methods is an important element to enable the smooth progress of land expropriation. Furthermore, attention should also be paid to the formulation of land expropriation schemes and emergency plans to solve land expropriation conflicts.

Highlights

In recent years, with the rapid development of the economy and urbanization, land expropriation in developing countries has been increasing [1,2,3]
Taking the land expropriation system reform pilot in Dingzhou city as an example, this paper analyzes the satisfaction of farmers who have had their land expropriated by establishing a structural equation model (SEM) to provide feedback on the implementation effect of the pilot work
As the direct interest subject of land expropriation system reform, farmers’ satisfaction is important feedback on the effect of land expropriation system reform, which directly affects the effect of land expropriation system reform

Summary

Introduction

With the rapid development of the economy and urbanization, land expropriation in developing countries has been increasing [1,2,3]. In China, urban construction land area increased from 6720 km in 1981 to 49,982.7 km in 2014, with a net increase of 43,262.7 km, an increase of 6.44 times, and an average annual growth rate of 6.27% [4]. With the continuous expansion of China’s urban scale, there have been a series of significant problems, such as the widening gap between urban and rural areas, environmental damage, rapid population growth, resource crisis, and so on. The disadvantages of the current land expropriation system have been gradually revealed, and conflict between farmers and the government has increased. The reform of the land expropriation system continues to become a hot, and difficult, topic in Chinese society

Methods

Results

Conclusion