Hakijamii.org

Site Guide: Home->China->Land & Eviction
	Landless women China Land and property rights are urgent issues for many women in rural China to protect their right to a decent standard of living. China has about 122 million hectares of arable land and has set the minimum at 120 million hectares in 2020.Food security experts say the bottomline is unrealistic. Instead they place their hopes on state farms in irrigated reclaimed land in the North West. While that may ensure food security for the country as a whole and urban areas in particular, the majority of the rural population may not benefit. 40 million farmers have already lost their farmland to land development projects. An estimated 3 million will lose their land every year. For the farmers, the loss of agricultural land is aggravated by fraud, corruption, embezzlement and delay in payment of compensation by local authorities and offi cials. In many cases, farmers were cheated of their rightful compensation. As it is, compensation rates are very low but farmers are said to receive only between 10- 22% of compensation meant for them. From 1998 to 2005, there were more than 1 million cases of illegal seizure and occupation of land, involving 330,000 hectares of land. The number of cases soared in the early 2000s. In 2003, there were 168,000 cases.The numbers dropped to about 80,000 in 2005 but many cases involved inadequate compensation to farmers.What is not known is the gender ratio of those who have lost land and will continue to lose their land. According to a sample survey conducted by the All China Women Federation in 202 counties of 30 provinces, 70% of those who were landless were women. Of those women, 26.3% have never had any land at all, 43.8% lost land when they got married and 0.7% lost land after divorce. Social security of women who have lost land in rural areas, especially elderly women, is a grave concern. With lower working capacity and lower income even if they fi nd work, elderly women are dependent on their families and an inadequate medical insurance system in the event of major illness.
Next >>>