(Beijing Review, May 31, 1999)

Developed agriculture requires complete agricultural legislation. Since China introduced reform and opening  policies, the agricultural sector has quickened its legislative process. Particularly over the past five years, it has made fairly rapid progress in this regard, effectively advancing the the process of administering agriculture in accordance with the law. According to statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture over the past five years the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congres (NPC) has adopted four agriculture-related laws, including the Law on Agriculture, the Law on Promoting Agrotechnology, the Law on Township Enterprises and the Law on Animal Quarantine with the number equaling that in the 15 years before 1993.

The State Council has enacted eight administrative regulations and decrees on agriculture, including the Provisions on the Protection of Aquatic Wild Animals, Provisions on Grassland Fire Preeention, Provision on the Protection of Basic Farmland and Provisions on Management of Farm Chemicals, with the number rising by 34 percent as compared with the Seventh NPC.

During the same period, the Ministry of Agriculture has formulated and promulgated some 130 policy- and regulation related documents. In addition, legislative departments in various localities have put into effect a large number of local agriculture-related regulations and laws in line  with local condions.

The quality of agricultural legislation has been improved significantly. While the regulations and laws formulated in recent years can better reflect the characteristics of rural economic operations under the socialist market economic structure, they prove to be more operationally feasible.

The agricultural legislation that has been constantly systematized, regularized and completed has played a tremendous role in the steady development of China’s agriculture and rural economic work, ranging from the practice of the household-based contract responsibility system to the reform of rural purchasing marketing and financial systems; from the development of township enterprises to the all-round progress of agriculture forestry, livestock breeding and fishery; and fromlifting 200 million farmers from poverty to implementing the strategy of developing agriculture through science and education.

Minister of Agriculture Chen Yaobang noted that with the deepening of rural reform, the State will intensify agricultural legislation and formulate related regulations and laws as quickly as possible. At present, the Law on the Management of Fees Borne by Farmers and Labor Service,  the Rules for the Implementation of the Law on Promoting Agrotechnology and the Provisions on the Management of Farm Machinery are being drafted. The laws on seeds and fishery and the provisions on the management of animal feed have been submitted to relevant authorities for examination. The existing laws on agriculture and grasslands will also be amended.

As a result, the chaotic situation in the agricultural sector when there were no laws to follow has become mere history. The main task for the agricultural sector at present, and for a long time to come, in the construction of a legal system is to strictly enforce the law. It will provide a main guarantee for the accomplishment of the State policy of  “increasing the incomes of farmers and maintaining the stability in rural areas”.

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Agricultural Laws and Administrative
Decrees Now in Force

      
    Comprehensive: The Law of the People’s Republic of China on
    Agriculture, the Organic Law of the People’s Republic of China
    on Village Committees
      
    Cultivation: The Provisions on Seeds, the Provisions on the
    Management of Farm Chemicals, the Provisions on the Protection
    of Wild Plants  
    
    Livestock breeding: The Grassland Law of the People’s Republic
    of China, the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Animal
    Quarantine, the Provisions on Grassland Fire Control, the
    Provisions on the Management of Breeding Stock and Poultry,
    the Provisions on the Management of Veterinary Medicines
    
    Fishery: The Fisheries Law of the People’s Republic of China,
    the Rules for the Implementation of the Fisheries of the People’s
    Republic of China, the Law of the People’s Republic of China on
    Wildlife Protection, the Provisions on the Protection of Aquatic
    Wild Animals, the Measures on the Collection and Usage of the Fees
    on the Protection of Fishery Resources Reproduction, the
    Provisions on the Protection of the Reproduction of Aquatic
    Resources, the Provisions on the Management of Traffic Safety
    in the Waters of Fishing Ports
	
    Township Enterprises: The Regulations on Collective	
    Enterprises, the Law of the People’s  Republic of China on 
    Township Enterprises.
	
    Science: The Law of the People’s Republic ot China 
    on Promoting Agrotechnology, the Provisions on the Protection of
    New Varieties of Plants.
	
    Quarantine: The Law of the People’s  Republic China on the
    Quarantine of Imported and Exported Animals apd Plants, the Rules
    for the Implementation of the Law on the Quarantine of Imported
    and Exported Animals and Plants, the Provisions on Plant Quarantine,
    the Measures for Trial Practice of Domestic Plant Quarantine
	
    Land: The Law of the People’s Republic of China on Land
    Administration, the Rules for the Implementation of the Law on Land
    Administration, the Provisions on the Protection of Basic Farmland,
    the Provisions on Land Reclamation
	
    Grain: The Provisions on Grain Purchasing, the Measures for
    Penalizing Law-Breaking Activities in Grain Purchasing and Marketing
	
    Taxation: The Provisions of the People’s Republic of China on
    Agricultural Tax, the Provisions on the Management of Fees Borne
    by Farmers and Labor Service
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