Farmers' rights to land not to be violated by anyone

Farmers' rights to the land are property rights conferred by law, and these rights must not be violated by anyone, Premier Wen Jiabao said at the annual parliamentary session Monday morning. "We will place farmland under strict protection, and formulate and promulgate regulations concerning compensation for the expropriation of rural collective land," Wen said at the opening of the annual session of the 11th National People's Congress. The Premier said the government will provide better supervision and services for the transfer of contracted land-use rights, and develop farming operations on an appropriately large scale. The Chinese government will deepen rural reform while working diligently to determine, register, and certify land ownership, Wen said. "The government must continue to make solving problems related to agriculture, rural areas, and farmers a top priority in all of its work," he said. The central government plans to allocate 1.2287 trillion yuan (about 195 billion U.S. dollars) for agriculture, rural areas and farmers this year, 186.8 billion yuan (about 29.5 billion U.S. dollars) more than last year, according to Wen. The government will also "increase policy support to strengthen agriculture, benefit farmers, and enrich rural areas," he said. "The fundamental way to develop agriculture is through science and technology," the Premier added. China's grain output increased for the eighth consecutive year in 2011 and grain output in each of the past five years has exceeded 500 million tons, partly thanks to the increased scientific and technological services for agriculture.