China to relocate 100 million farmers

The Chinese government said it plans to relocate 100 million farmers, or about 12% of the rural population, mainly into smaller cities with a large stockpile of unsold homes, and turn the farmers’ small holdings into larger farms, Caixin reports.  But farmers who choose to move and get an urban household registration, or hukou, will have the right to decide whether to keep their farmland or sell it, the State Council, China’s cabinet, said in a policy document released on Tuesday. Small plots of land left behind by city-bound villagers could be turned into larger farms that use modern methods to make the agricultural sector more competitive, policymakers said. Authorities had hoped the government-led migration could also help reduce the large stockpile of unsold homes, particularly in smaller cities.