Agricultural reforms in China are seeing the light of day as the government pilots for greater property rights allowing farmers to reap the benefits of advanced urbanization drive.

According to China's agriculture vice minister Chen Xiaohua, the program will provide room for collective ownership and advocacy to protect the interest of the farmers.

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Under the new reform, China's farmers are given rights to benefit from a rented land, inherit or surrender properties depending on certain conditions.

It has been China's first major revision of the 1980 agricultural laws that limit farmer's access to direct trading or mortgaging of rural lands. While the Chinese economy continued to prosper in cities, progress in rural areas has been stagnant through the years because farm lands remained under the jurisdiction of the state.

Amid weakening economies in Europe and the United States, China's GDP continues to grow at 8.9 percent and to alleviate approximately 600 million people from poverty. The country also maintained its capability to supply tons of rice, wheat and other grain products to 20 percent of the world's population.

Unfortunately, the Communist Party of China (CPC) faces modern-day irrigation problems and the possibility to decrease agricultural supplies if water scarcity is not addressed immediately.

About 30 percent of rural land is converted into farming resulting in a 10 percent increase in the per capita grain yield. But irrigated lands plummet to 20 percent with 60 percent remaining in agricultural water withdrawals, The Guardian reported.

It is a difficult task for CPC to increase water pricing schemes not to hurt farmers and commercial land owners.

In response, Chinese lawmakers initiated an experiment on transferring water supply from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to industrial plants near Yellow River. It is expected that irrigation levels will be sustained to 170 cubic meters by the end of the year.

Also, the government will put up a water bank to help farmers use less of the supply efficiently without having to increase the price. Saved water will be transferred to areas where the supply is more needed.

Agricultural reforms that govern land ownership and irrigation supplies are part of China's economic and political restructuring.

TagsEnvironment, agriculture, Land use, Land management, Land reform