MORE REFORM DIVIDENDS, BETTER FORTUNE PROSPECTS

As one of Anhui's 20 pilot counties, Xuancheng, where Zan lives,announced its plans at the end of January, allowing owners of big family farms to mortgage management rights of their land. The news has cheered Zan.

"I used to borrow from my friends and relatives for my investment needs," he said. Zan has even resorted to mortgaging his own house and those of his relatives. If he can borrow more by mortgaging his farm, Zan will develop more land for organic rice, a lucrative business given high prices and market demand. At the moment, he has only 500 mu under organic rice; it is an expensive crop to grow.

"Mortgaging land is being discussed as a way to apply policy," said Wang Lixiang, of Xuancheng agriculture department, citing issues such as which items shall be mortgageable and how to control risk.

While big farm owners like Zan see hope in these plans, individual farmers can expect dividends as well.

According to Wang, Xuancheng is issuing more land-use certificates to individuals, an essential step if they are to transfer their land to big farmers.

Agriculture Minister Han Changfu said last year that China aims to complete land-use rights registration within five years.

Xuancheng will choose five towns to pilot a land reclamation scheme. Farmers will be able to move to new villages with better infrastructure and services and their abandoned homesteads reclaimed as arable land. The rights to this newly developed land will remain with the farmers.

Despite the bright prospects, analysts have cautioned against unbridled optimism.

Farmland contracts for individual farmers in China normally last 30 years. As the renewal of land contracts for farmers in Anhui was mostly carried out in 1995, farmers now have around 10 years of use rights remaining. This is a major bugbear for farmers like Zan who pine for longer leases with farmers.

For Zan, a 10-year lease is an improvement. Combined with expected reform, Zan has some right to his optimism.

"As policy support materializes, I will try to make more money from my land," he said.