Research Status of Land Transfer under the Background of Rural Revitalization

Yi LOU, Zisheng YANG

Targeted Poverty Alleviation and Development Institute, Yunnan University of Finance and Economics, Kunming 650221, China

Abstract Land has always been an indispensable element in farmers’ production activities, and it is the root of farmers’ survival. Under the background of rural revitalization, land transfer has become an important means of boosting rural revitalization. In the process of implementing the rural revitalization strategy, how to effectively solve the problems in rural land transfer, such as fragmentation, decentralization, low utilization rate, breach of contracts and difficult financing, is an important aspect of promoting rural modernization. In this paper, the literature on land transfer at home and abroad is sorted out, the current research status and the problems of land transfer under the background of rural revitalization are summarized and consolidated, and corresponding solutions and prospects are put forward. This is of practical significance to further study the land transfer under the background of rural revitalization in China.

Key words Land transfer, Rural revitalization, Status analysis, Prospect

1 Introduction

Land has always been an indispensable element of farmers’ production activities. It is the root of farmers’ survival, and is also the main carrier for farmers to invest, accumulate wealth and transfer wealth between generations, providing the minimum living security, unemployment security and old-age security for the majority of farmers. In the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy, solving the problems of fragmentation, decentralization and low utilization rate of land in rural areas is an important aspect of promoting China’s rural economic development of rural modernization. Research has shown that rural land transfer is an important means to effectively solve the current problems in rural land transfer, such as fragmentation, decentralization, low utilization rate, fallow and abandonment. Land transfer can rationally allocate land resources so that land can flow from inefficient producers to efficient producers to achieve optimal land use efficiency, thereby promoting the transformation of the agricultural structure in a reasonable direction. While promoting rural economic development, land transfer also brings many shortcomings and problems, harming the interests of farmers and even threatening the long-term development of the countryside.

In this paper, the latest issues and research results on rural revitalization and land transfer in China are summarized, so as to further boost the research on land transfer under the background of rural revitalization in China.

2 Research status at home and abroad

2.1 Progress in foreign researchThe foreign land systems are different from that of China. Most countries implement private land ownership. Land can be traded directly in the market, and the land property rights are very clear. Even if the land is nationalized, the land property rights are not chaotic. Therefore, in foreign studies, the concept of land transaction is often used, and the concept of rural land transfer is rarely used. Foreign land transactions include not only the sale of farmland ownership but also the transactions of use rights, such as lease and transfer. Thus, foreign scholars usually need to focus on the land transaction level in their research on land transfer, and their research is mostly carried out based on land lease, land property rights, rural land transfer policies, methods and interference factors, and transfer markets.

2.1.1Land theories, land property rights and trading system. Many western countries are sparsely populated, where land transfer is also prevalent. Many foreign scholars have started research on land transactions long time ago. In this process, the theory of land rent represented by Karl Marx, the theory of property rights represented by Ronald H. Coase and the theory of institutional change represented by Douglass C. North were formed. Karl Marx mentioned the legal-right relation in the theory of land rent, which is the essence of land property rights. That is, land rent is the specific realization of land ownership in the economy. However, when the transaction cost is zero, the market transaction will realize the effective allocation of resources under any farmland property rights system. In addition, the stability of land property rights is also critical to the long-term investment of landowners. Alchian and Demsetz have studies this. The increase in rights will hinder investment,i.e., the stability is worse[1]. These basic researches have laid the foundation for later scholars to continuously deepen and improve the relevant theories on land. Western scholars believe that the establishment of land property rights is the prerequisite for the smooth conduct of land transactions. Meanwhile, they believe that the market should be the main trading method. The government only needs to make up for the shortcomings when the market fails. Through empirical research, Carter, Yao, Feamside, Deininger,etal. have proved that the determination of land property rights and the issuance of land title certificates are more conducive to transactions in the land lease market, and they can avoid conflicts in reclaiming land investment[2-3]. Feder and Feeney believe that land resources with clear property rights can increase agricultural investment and agricultural productivity, as well as reduce transaction cost[4]. Douglass elaborated on the relationship between government and the land market in the articleAnEconomiccaseforLandReform[5]. He believes that the government can only play the role of macroeconomic regulation and control, instead of improving the operational efficiency of the land market. Terry proposed that the system should be innovative to achieve optimal land allocation, thereby improving its efficiency[6].

2.1.2Factors affecting land transactions. Some scholars have studies the influencing factors of land transaction behavior. Mainly from the aspects of social and economic development, national policies, rent, cultural level, family labor situation and cultivated land area, empirical studies were conducted. Muth pointed out that there is a positive relationship between economic development and land transfer through the example of measurement model. Through case studies, Jin, Laus, Lohmar, Yao, Brandt and other scholars found that the level of social and economic development and the level of rural surplus productivity transfer have a direct impact on agricultural land transactions. Bogaerts and other scholars found that rent has a significant impact on land transactions, and excessive rents will hinder the conduct of land transactions. This is more prominent in Central Europe. Scholars such as Tesfaye Teklu found in the empirical research that the influence of age and education level of farmers on agricultural land transactions is uncertain. In some areas, the influence is significant, but in some other areas, the influence is not significant. In the process of analyzing the transaction price of the Slovak land market, Oshua and Eloenora found that government intervention is an important cause of land price decline.

2.2 Progress in domestic researchBy the early 1980s, the transfer of rural land contractual management rights began to appear in China and gradually spread from the coast to the inland. So far, domestic scholars have carried out extensive and in-depth research on the status, transfer methods, business models, impact mechanisms and factors of land transfer, and relatively fruitful research results have been achieved.

2.2.1Status of land transfer. Based on questionnaires, regional studies and case studies, some domestic scholars have conducted in-depth studies on the scale, scope, methods and objects of land transfer. It is found that there are widespread problems in land transfer, such as small scale, short transfer period, regional imbalance, imperfect land market management and backward farmers’ concept[7-12]. In recent years, China’s land transfer speed and scale are constantly accelerating and expanding. However, the distribution of land transfer is still uneven. In remote areas such as Xinjiang and Tibet, the transfer rate is still relatively slow. Bao Zongshunetal.[8]conducted an empirical research on Jiangsu Province, and it was found that there is a huge gradient difference in the level of economic development between regions, and as a result, there are also significant differences in the scale, speed, and methods of rural land transfer.

2.2.2Land transfer methods and diversification of business entities. With the acceleration of urbanization and agricultural modernization, rural land transfer has become more active and diverse. However, due to differences in geography, number of labor per household, quality of workforce, skills workforce possess, attitudes of farmers and treatment methods of contracted land, land transfer also presents different characteristics. Through a survey of Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province and Huaibei City, Anhui Province, Zhao Bingqi[13]found that land transfer in developed areas is mainly based on transfer, followed by rent, and in underdeveloped areas, land transfer is mainly based on subcontract, followed by swap. In Jiangxi Province, the transfer between farmers in rural collectives is still the most important way of transfer[14]. At early stages, some scholars believe that "substituting" and "inheritance" involve no transfer, but assignment, rent, swap and shareholding. There are also some unique patterns based on local characteristics and actual conditions, such as "Wuhu model" in which farmers’ construction land is transferred, "Jiaxing model" in which land is used to pay social security, "Kunshan model" in which collective fundraising is used to run the community, "Guangdong model" in which agricultural land is used for urban construction and "Tianjin model" in which farmers’ housing sites are exchanged for housing, as well as "South China Sea model" and "Jianli model"[15]. With the continuous advancement of rural land transfer, China’s rural land transfer management has also gradually diversified. Chen Hewu, Niebin and Luo Biliang pointed out the fact that the land transfer in rural areas is mostly between relatives, friends or acquaintances, while less land is flowed to the large grain producers and enterprises or organizations that carry out large-scale agricultural products; less land is transferred to collectives, and generally, part of the land owned by a farmer is transferred; and land is mostly transferred to members of the same village, instead of migrant population of the village and farmers outside the village[16]. From the perspective of economic and social integration, Kong Xiangzhi and Xu Zhenyuan[17]found that the endowment of farmers and the size of the rent will affect the choice of the transfer object. High-value agricultural land flows to people who have a close relationship with the owners, and low-value farmland flows to large households or enterprises that have no kinship or geographical relationship with the owners. The No.1 Central Document 2017 further proposes that we must vigorously cultivate new agricultural business entities and service entities and accelerate the development of various forms of scale operations driven by transformation of land transfer and services through the transfer of management rights, shareholding cooperation, substituting for farming, land custody,etc. In recent years under the encouragement and guidance of the party and the government, new agricultural operating entities and new professional farmers have developed rapidly. Wang Manli conducted a field survey and questionnaire survey on the land transfer situation of the Shaanxi Provincial Bureau of Statistics, pointing out that nearly 90% of the rural areas have land transfer, and enterprises have become the main target of peasants’ land transfer.

2.2.3Factors affecting land transfer. Based on field research in various regions, domestic scholars have found that land transfer willingness has a close relationship with the basic situation of the family, basic land conditions, social security system and economic development level. Shang Yu[18]believes that the household per capita income, the distance from the county town, the cost of farmland transfer, the age and education level of decision marker have significantly affected the decision of land transfer. Qiao Junfeng[19]found through research that informal relationship networks have a very important role in land transfer, and the lack of social security system and intermediary organizations will hinder the transfer of land. Based on the survey of 684 farmer households in Jiangsu, Jiang Shubin and Su Qun[20]found that the structural adjustment of the planting industry and the transfer of rural labor are the main driving forces for land transfer. Shi Lulu[21]believes that the factors influencing rural land transfer are the area of land, the level of village economic development, the type of village and the proportion of non-agricultural income. At present, a large number of scholars have conducted research on the prevention mechanism and influencing factors of land transfer contract-breaching risk. It was found that the introduction of land transfer contract fulfillment guarantee insurance to prevent contract-breaching risk protects the interests and enthusiasm of farmers from transfering land to a certain extent, and reduces the economic burden of some owners, as well as relieving the burden of the grassroots government to resolve disputes, thereby increasing the enthusiasm of farmers for land transfer[22-25]. From the perspectives of the government’s role orientation, model and functional optimization[26-29], it is found that there are some problems existing in current rural land transfer such as lack of effective policy guidance and legal norms, violation of farmers’ willingness, damage to farmers’ interests, and arbitrary change of agricultural use of land transferred. Local governments play a very important role in rural land transfer. Therefore, local governments should take into account central policies and local realities, fully consider the situations that may be encountered in policy implementation, and optimize their management behavior and function positioning. This has a strong impetus to the land transfer of farmers.

3 Strategic background for the implementation of rural revitalization and boosting effect of land transfer

3.1 Strategic background for the implementation of rural revitalizationImplementing the rural revitalization strategy is an inevitable choice to start a new journey of building a socialist modernized country in an all-round way. The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China emphasized that "issues relating to agriculture, rural areas and rural people are the fundamental issues related to national economy and the people’s livelihood, and the issue of solving the ‘three rural issues’ must always be the top priority of the party’s work ". This is the general adjustment of the party’s 19th National Congress on the status of "agriculture, rural areas and rural people", re-emphasizing the status of the "three rural issues" and first mentioning that the "three rural issues" is related to national economy and the people’s livelihood. This indicates that the "three rural issues" is the foundation of the country, and it status remains the most important. In particular, in the new era, resolving better the "three rural issues" is the key and focus to resolve the contradiction between the people’s growing needs for a better life and the unbalanced development and achieve the construction of a well-off society. The status of the "three rural issues" cannot be weakened, but must be strengthened. Implementing the rural revitalization strategy is a key link in building a well-off society in China, is an objective requirement for realizing the Chinese dream of great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and is also an important manifestation of the fundamental purpose of the Chinese Communist Party to serve the people.

The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, and the main contradiction in Chinese society has been transformed into a contradiction between the people’s growing needs for a better life and the insufficient and unbalanced development. The changes in the main contradiction in Chinese society have put forward new requirements for the "three rural issues", that is, protecting ecological security as well as safeguarding the sustainable development of the economy. On the one hand, people’s growing needs for a better life has put forward new requirements for beautify ecology, healthy living and leisure tourism. On the other hand, the problem of insufficient and unbalanced social and economic development is particularly prominent in China’s rural areas. There are many problems in rural grassroots autonomy and organization. China’s rural governance system and governance capacity are urgently needed to be resolved. Since the reform and opening up, China’s rural areas have obtained a solid foundation, but it is still urgent for the rural agriculture and economy to fully transform from the original insufficient and imbalanced to coordinated, friendly and sufficient. This is also one of the backgrounds for the proposal of China’s rural revitalization strategy. First, the agriculture should be turned to the development of versatility, from focusing on adequate food, supply of raw materials and increasing employment to protecting the ecology and developing sightseeing tours and industries. Second, the rural economy needs to turn to diversified development, from guaranteeing the supply of housing and infrastructure construction to developing rural tourism resorts and introducing enterprises, so as to achieve the rapid growth of the economy and increase the income of farmers. Based on these two points, people are yearning for the countryside and keeping optimistic about the countryside.

Implementing the rural revitalization strategy is an inevitable requirement for realizing the common prosperity of all the people. Socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era. The "historic change" in the main contradiction of Chinese society has put forward new requirements and new guidelines for China’s future development. In the new historical period, we must adhere to the people-centered development thinking to constantly promote the all-round development of people and the common prosperity of all people. However, we have to be soberly aware that at present, China’s rural areas still face a grim situation in which development is lagging behind. The rural revitalization strategy is proposed on this issue. China has a long history of more than 5 000 years, and the countryside is the birthplace of the traditional civilization of the Chinese nation, and it has always played an important role in economic and social development. The prosperity of the countryside is an important symbol of the prosperous world. The rural revitalization strategy emphasizes adhering to the priority development of agriculture and rural areas. It is a full affirmation of the status and role of the villages, and is the historical mission for realizing the Chinese dream of great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Rural revitalization is an inevitable requirement for building a socialist modern country. The fact that China’s urbanization level is not high and the total rural population is huge determines that there will be no modernization of the country and it is also impossible to achieve the socialist essential goal of the common prosperity of all people without the modernization of agriculture and rural areas.

3.2 Land transfer boosting rural revitalizationIn order to implement the rural revitalization strategy, we must persist in giving priority to the development of the countryside, persist in the development of agriculture, establish and improve the institutional mechanisms and policy systems for the integration of urban and rural development, and accelerate the modernization and industrialization of rural agriculture in accordance with the overall layout requirements of ecological livability, industrial prosperity, rural civilization, effective governance and affluent living. The implementation of the rural revitalization strategy is an inevitable requirement for building a well-off society in all all-round way, promoting the transformation of China’s agricultural modernization and becoming a modern agricultural power. The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward the rural revitalization strategy. In particular, it is required to consolidate and improve the basic rural management system, deepen the reform of the rural land system, and improve the system of "three-right separation" in China’s land. Speeding up the transfer of land and leading the orderly transfer of land management rights are the practice of deepening the reform of the rural land system, the embodiment of improving the "three-right separation" system, and an important part of advancing the rural revitalization strategy.

In order to build a modern agricultural industrial system, promote the structural reform of the agricultural supply side and promote the organic connection between small farmers and modern agricultural development, it is necessary for rural land to realize the transformation from fragmented and decentralized planting to large-scale and intensive management. Therefore, the issue of rural land transfer has become a breakthrough in realizing rural revitalization. Marx said that land ownership is the basis for the development of individual independence, and is a necessary transition point for the development of agriculture itself,i.e., realizing the transition from fragmented operation to large-scale and intensive management. The scale management of rural land can achieve double growth in rural and peasants’ economic income. The farmers’ fragmented land is transferred rationally to professional planters or industrial organizations, and the farmers are employed by the professional planters or industrial organizations. Thus, the farmers get paid from the work while getting land rent. The "agricultural factory" produced after the rational transfer of land not only increases the income of farmers per hectare but also allow farmers to obtain stable rental income from land transfer. More importantly, land transfer can also promote the flow of information and knowledge between urban and rural areas. Land transfer can be said to be "the flow of wealth", which is a catalyst for achieving the sharing of reform results. What is visible in rural land transfer is the flow of land, and what is invisible is the flow of knowledge and information, realizing the injection of finance and wealth into the land and the injection of information and knowledge into rural areas and farmers. This will fundamentally solve the most fundamental problems that currently cause urban-rural differences and achieve rural revitalization.

4 Problems in land transfer under the background of rural revitalization

4.1 Breach of contractsAlthough the proportion of land transferred accounts for more than one third of contracted farmland in China, the land transfer market is still in an irregular and immature stage, and the market is chaotic, and various contract-breaching issues and disputes are more prominent. First of all, most of the land is transferred spontaneously between farmers. Private agreements and verbal agreements account for the vast majority. They do not submit applications to the township committee, and also have no formal contracts. This makes the current land transfer likely to be a dispute. In fact, the issuance of standardized contracts and contracted business certificates is more conducive to the development of the agricultural land transfer market[30]. Secondly, economic organizations such as cooperatives, leading enterprises and large growers generally sign written agreements with farmers, but sometimes the agreements are unclear and lack effective safeguards. When the output of agricultural products is good and the sales volume is high, or corporate profits are high, farmers often ask higher transfer prices, or, they simply destroy the contracts. When the market is not good, the enterprises are more prone to destroying the contracts. After the farmers transfer the land to large organizations or leading enterprises and other economic organizations, the land is generally re-planned and re-organized, and the original boundaries are destroyed. When the lease expires, it is difficult for the land to restore its original appearance and boundaries. As a result, farmers are unable to recover their land. This is also easy to cause disputes.

4.2 Unmatched supply and demand of public goods and servicesThe grassroots government does not always play the role of "justice and kindness" in land transfer. In order to achieve the goal of economic development and complete the land transfer task issued by the superior, local governments sometimes achieve their goals by lowering the price of land to be transferred or forcing farmers to transfer. Some local governments and administrative villages even arrange the amount, progress and scale of land transfer in the form of policy documents. Even worse, land transfer work is included in the performance appraisal at the end of the year. Once the government plays an important role in land transfer, transfer prices and agreements cannot be guaranteed on a fair and voluntary basis, thus posing a great hidden risk for disputes. At the same time, it also brings other problems. First, it violates the willingness of farmers to transfer voluntarily, depriving pure agriculture-oriented employment channels of some farmers and reducing autonomy in agriculture and work choices. Second, policy support is unfair, which is not conducive to the realization of the training objectives of new agricultural operators in the structural reform of agricultural supply side. Third, unified land transfer tends to increase rents (only through high subsidies to large-scale tenants can normal profits be maintained), thus the land market cannot truly reflect the price information of land transfer, leading to price distortions and further disruptions in land transfer between farmers.

4.3 Unclear subjects of land property rights in some rural areasPrevious research has shown that there is a serious lack of property right subjects in China’s land transfer[31-34]. The education level of farmers is generally not high, and property rights of their land are generally less clear, thus they cannot protect their rights and interests in land transfer. In the past research, some scholars have suggested that the current rural land property rights in China lacks exclusivity, and the contractual management rights lack clarity, security and stability. The proposal of three-right separation can be conducive to the clarity of property rights, and can effectively protect the rights and interests of all parties in the land transfer. But in remote areas of Yunnan Province, people mostly don’t understand what the "three-right separation" is. Even worse, some farmers in the survey area don’t have a clear understanding on the ownership and management rights of land. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the propaganda of the land system and the separation of the three rights, letting farmers follow the pace of the times.

4.4 Limited sources of funds in rural areasAgricultural production operators have the need to purchase agricultural production machinery, agricultural materials and other means of production. However, due to the lack of knowledge of finance of the farmers and the weakness of their own foundations, loans from banks and other financial institutions often face difficulties such as lack of credit and assets, and unsecured. It is therefore difficult for farmers to pass the credit assessment and obtain loans from banks. Even if the planting industry has formed a certain scale, financial systems such as banks usually issue very few financial loans for the purchase of production materials, making it difficult for farmers to expand production scale and improve production conditions. Difficulties in financing are the main factors limiting the growth of business entities.

5 How to solve the problems in land transfer under the background of rural revitalization

The report of the 19th National Congress put forward an important measure that can effectively solve the "three rural issues" in China. Land is one of the important production factors for agricultural development, and its optimal configuration will play a decisive role in rural revitalization. Although the land transfer has achieved good results, the market mechanism of land has been in a state of continuous improvement, and the problems in the process of transfer have yet to be resolved. In order to promote the healthy and orderly development of the land transfer market, we must focus on the market-oriented development of "three-right separation" and further deepen reforms in accordance with the interests of all parties. First, we should pay attention to the interests and concerns of farmers’ contractors and new agricultural operators, comprehensively check whether public goods and services provided by the government are over- or under-supplied, and update and amend laws and regulations in a timely manner. Second, we should correct policies and systems for oversupply. Policies and services have created a good trading environment for the land transfer market and reduced the transaction costs of both the supply and demand sides, thereby providing a reliable guarantee for the development and moderate-scale operation of the land transfer market. After the first proposal of the rural revitalization strategy at the end of 2017, various specific policies and measures for rural economic development have been promulgated and implemented. Most of them focus on the effective use of land resources, and can be classified into the following aspects.

5.1 Deepening the reform of the rural land system and further improving the "three-right separation" systemFrom 2013 to 2018, the registration and certification of ownership in the national agricultural land has been completed. This gives the farmers a "reassuring", resolves the disputes over the collective land ownership in rural areas and effectively protects the rights and interests of farmers, so as to recognizes farmers’ land contractual management rights according to laws and form a scientific and rational rural land property rights system, thereby providing guarantee for urbanization, industrialization and agricultural modernization.

However, as the situation changes, it is necessary to give farmers more land rights. For example, in terms of land transfer, some farmers are afraid of the transfer of land contractual management rights, because they are afraid of losing the rights to contract management after the transfer of land contractual management rights, so that they would abandon rather than transfer the land. In terms of land acquisition, some farmers cannot obtain the corresponding land compensation fees and social security fees according to laws. In terms of financial services, land management rights mortgage loans are difficult to contract. In terms of voluntary withdrawal from land contracts, the supporting policies are not in place, and relevant subsidy standards are opaque. This requires to further deepen the reform of the rural land system, further improve the "three-right separation" system, and increase the revision of relevant regulations and implementation rules for land transfer targeting at various problems encountered in the practice of land transfer, thereby ensuring the land rights of farmers. Firstly, while accelerating the pace of land certification, it is necessary to further clarify the relationship between ownership, contracting rights and management rights, accelerate the liberalization of management rights, and improve the liquidity, flexibility and stability of management rights, enabling new agricultural operators to invest easily and safely. the requirements for the scale, duration and manner of land transfer and the qualifications, conditions, rights and obligations of intermediaries should be detailed. At last, it is necessary to increase the punishment for grassroots governments that violate the wishes of farmers, as well as subjects that violate the land contracting and management rights of farmers and acts of breach of contracts that damage the interests of farmers.

5.2 Improving the grassroots land transfer and trading platform and its informatization constructionWhile implementing the "three-right separation", it is necessary to further improve the land transfer platform and its information construction, especially the grassroots land transfer trading platform and its information construction. Due to unclear property rights of agricultural land and too high costs of transaction, the current agricultural land transfer is mainly limited to a small village-centric area, greatly limiting the realization of the value of agricultural land and hindering the development of China, the optimal allocation of land element and the improvement of agricultural modernization. A large number of studies show that under the premise of clear property rights, the establishment of a trading platform by the government is an important means to reduce transaction costs and actively regulate the transfer of agricultural land. Some studies have theoretically proved that trading platform can increase the expected fixed income of farmers, increase the expected returns and output of agricultural enterprises, vigorously develop government-led platforms, and effectively eliminate barriers to interoperability between platforms. In addition, based on the analysis of the formation mechanism of the transfer market, the supply and demand information, legal advice, asset valuation and integration required for the transfer transaction have been studied. Through the signing dispute mediation service, the agricultural land transfer intermediary service organization system is theoretically constructed, and its operation mechanism is studied, thereby providing a good theoretical guidance for the construction of a multi-level transfer trading platform. The construction of agricultural land transfer trading platform is of great significance to further promote the transfer of agricultural land. The construction of the trading platform is to increase the effective supply of agricultural land use rights from the supply-side structural reform, thereby increasing the property income of farmers, improving the utilization efficiency of agricultural land, scale of agricultural production and level of agricultural modernization, and contributing to the steady advancement of new urbanization.

5.3 Land transfer, as a kind of market behavior, depending on the power of the market to regulateIn addition to appropriate adjustments to financial support policies, it is more important to further improve the financial service mechanism of land transfer to allow all parties to get the necessary financing through the market. Rural land transfer faces the triple test of natural disaster risk, market risk and financing risk. The probability of credit default is high and the bank’s credit risk is also increasing. Therefore, it is necessary to establish an effective financial risk compensation mechanism to solve the risks of land transfer enterprises, farmers and financial institutions. First, it is necessary to establish risk compensation fund. It is recommended that the government provides funds and strengthens compensation for farmers’ loss due to natural disasters during land transfer to reduce the economic loss of business entities. At the same time, it is recommended to provide certain guarantees for land transfer supported by loans and fund of financial institutions. A credit risk compensation fund, managed and supervised by financial department, needs to be established. Compensation will be made for bad debt losses of financial institutions for land transfer. Financial institutions are encouraged to continue investing in land transfer loans. It is recommended to establish a land transfer risk fund to provide mortgage guarantees for financial institutions. Financial institutions’ financing provides financing guarantee for the funds that lead the industry development and infrastructure construction, helping leading industries to fundamentally prevent risks. Second, it is recommended to introduce a series of preferential policies for agriculture-related financial services. Preferential treatment will be provided to financial institutions involved in land transfer, such as reduction of business tax and income tax. Incentive policies will be formulated to encourage financial institutions to increase their support for land transfer. Finally, the land scale transfer insurance system should be optimized. The formulation and optimization of agricultural insurance should be based on the development of modern agriculture and the elements of land transfer to promote the rational and legal transfer of rural land. The land management right transfer guarantee system should be improved to increase the prevention and control of land transfer risks.

5.4 Improving financial policies and attracting social capital to the countrysideThe support of funds for rural land transfer should be multi-level and diversified. It is necessary to pay attention to solving the difficulties in financing of new agricultural subjects. Meanwhile, there is a need to innovate financial products and financial services to meet the funding needs of land transfer. In addition to accelerating the innovation of land transfer services of agriculture-related banks and institutions, the tilting of national financial policies to the "three rural issues" has also simulated the enthusiasm of Internet financing institutions to enter the rural land transfer market. Internet giants such as Alibaba and Jingdong have begun to deploy strategic investment industry websites here and carried out financial business related to land transfer. In addition, there are also some professional Internet companies of rural land transfer that have been committed to land transfer business. Although the financial industry can help the market to expand the source of funding, due to the difficulty in realizing the rapid realization of land management rights, the driving force of the financial industry has been hindered in the land market. Therefore, on the one hand, the government must speed up the revision of relevant laws to improve the liquidity of land management rights in the market. On the other hand, it is necessary to improve the financial policies related to rural land transfer to improve the financial industry’s service capacity and level for land assets. At the same time, it is also necessary to improve the management mechanism and business process to attract more financial funds to the land transfer market. It is also necessary to expand the land transfer business and related product development and innovate services and market experience to unlock more land potential, accelerate the transfer of rural land property rights and further attract social and credit funds into this field.

6 Research prospets

Land transfer is an inevitable choice for China’s moderate-scale operation, and is the basic premise for realizing agricultural and rural modernization, because rural land transfer can effectively solve the current problems existing in China’s rural land, such as fragmentation, decentralization, low utilization rate, fallow and abandonment. At the same time, land transfer can rationally allocate land resources so that land can flow from inefficient producers to efficient producers to achieve optimal land use efficiency, thereby promoting the transformation of the agricultural structure in a reasonable direction. The problems caused by land transfer are also worthy of attention, such as the problems caused by the flow of land rights and the problems between people and land. After the first proposal of the rural revitalization strategy at the end of 2017, various specific policies and measures for rural economic development have ben promulgated and implemented. The optimal configuration of land, as one of the important production factors for agricultural development, will play a decisive role in rural revitalization. In the future research, focus should be placed on moderately and rationally promoting land transfer to make rural elements fully and rationally allocated and to maximize resource efficiency, thereby achieving the modernization of agriculture and the overall revitalization of the countryside.