Policymakers and experts remained divided over proposed amendments to the Land Law, said deputy director of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment’s General Department of Land Administration Dao Trung Chinh on March 7 in
He cited a moot point was to increase the agricultural land limit. Under the 2003 Land Law, a farmer could only farm on up to 3 hectares of land.
Opponents of the idea argued that maintaining the current limit would mean many more farmers could own land for production. Meanwhile, proponents said putting a cap on land would hamper large-scale and concentrated agricultural production.
Regarding adjusting the land lease duration, Chinh said it did not matter whether leases spanned 20 or 50 years because the current law allowed farmers to renew them as long as they wished.
Given that the land compensation rate was among the leading causes behind land price litigations, Chinh said there should be an independent agency rather than state agencies to evaluate land prices.-