China to educate farmers on property

BEIJING --China will step up efforts to educate farmers on their property rights and encourage them to resolve land disputes through legal means, officials said Tuesday, in a push to curb protests over illegal land grabs and inadequate compensation.

The campaign will use the media, training classes and traditional propaganda methods such as village banners to make farmers aware of their rights, said Hu Jianfeng, deputy director general of the Ministry of Agriculture.

"We will enhance publicity and raise the awareness of relevant laws and regulations so farmers will employ lawful channels to uphold their land rights," Hu told reporters.

The move appears to be an effort to calm potentially explosive anger in China's countryside, where more than 800 million farmers eke out a living. Farmland in China is owned by the state, but a landmark property rights law enacted last year stipulates that farmers are allowed to occupy, use and profit from it, and be compensated if the land is expropriated.

Farmers frequently have had that right taken away by local officials who want the land for infrastructure and housing projects, often with little or no compensation. Mass protests and sometimes violent clashes with authorities - an embarrassment and a threat to social stability promised by the ruling Communist leadership - have accelerated as a result.

Liu Mingsong, deputy director general of the Ministry of Land and Resources, said the ministry had carried out a 100-day campaign to ensure that land laws were being enforced and that violators were punished.