China on Thursday announced new measures to ban illegal seizures of farmland and stop excessive use of land for construction and industrial projects, state media said.
Land seizures have led to some of the biggest protests and riots in China in recent years.
The State Council, or cabinet, decided at a meeting Tuesday that compensation for farmers whose land is acquired by local governments for development must be raised to levels that allow them to maintain their living standards, Xinhua news agency said.
Charges for land use rights and land use taxes would be raised, and the government would also set up a standard for minimum pricing of industrial land use rights and make the standard public, Xinhua said, citing a State Council statement.
Beijing would hold top local government officials responsible for land management and protection of farmland within their jurisdictions, the statement said.
Violations of land administration laws and regulations would be severely prosecuted and publicised, it said.
The State Council said the measures were taken to stop excessive use of land for construction and industrial projects, check violations of laws and regulations in land requisitions, and ban the illegal requisition of farmland.
In recent years, the rising value of land has spurred local governments to force farmers and others off their land so they can sell it to developers or develop it themselves into commercial buildings or upscale housing to make a profit.
Those dispossessed have little power to bargain for good compensation and those who protest are often beaten or jailed by police and local officials.
Countless people come to the capital in hope of getting central government help over their grievances.
The meeting Tuesday was presided over by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, who stressed the need to control land usage, citing problems in the allocation of too much land for construction purposes, illegal land use, and abuse of farm land.
