A relaxation in rural land use was the trailblazer for the country's reform and opening-up in the early 1980s, when a system of contacted responsibility linking remuneration to output spread among farmers. But villagers have been left far behind in the more than three decades of rapid economic growth since then.
Fundamentally transforming the land use system to their benefit has become essential if the government is to realize its goals of common prosperity and national revival.
This may explain why the communique from the Third Plenum of the 18th CPC Central Committee highlighted that villagers will be granted more access to property rights; public resources will be fairly distributed in rural and urban areas; and a unified market will be established for the use of land in both urban and rural areas.
Disputes between rural residents and local governments arising from the requisitioning of land have been a major source of instability in the past decade, as the fact that villagers collectively own rural land has provided the opportunity for unfair or even dirty deals in the trading of rural land and an excuse for local governments to requisition land for whatever purposes they want. It goes without saying that transformation of the current rural land use system is the only workable approach to allow villagers to access their property rights.
As a matter of fact, it has already become common in some places for villagers to rent out their homes or transfer their rights to rural land for the construction of houses for profit and then use the money to buy homes in urban areas.
Nevertheless, a policy and a system are needed to give legitimacy to this practice and to regulate the market so that the rights and interests of rural residents can be better protected. And of even greater concern, arable land needs to be strictly prohibited from being traded for non-agricultural purposes.
Yet it will not be an easy job to balance the interests of all parties involved in the land reform without establishing a fair and transparent mechanism and implementing a set of reasonably designed rules.
With more down-to-earth efforts to ensure the smooth operation of the land market, the rural land system could again blaze the trail for the country's overall reform.
20世纪80年代初期，放宽农村土地使用，成为我国改革开放的先驱。当时的农村推行农民利益与土地产出直接挂钩的责任制，受到了农民极大的欢迎，但在三十多年后的今天，中国经济迅猛发展，而农民的收入水平并未得到相应提升。
为了实现共同繁荣和民族复兴的目标，从根本上对土地使用制度进行改革使广大农民受益势在必行。
党的第18届三中全会公报强调，赋予农民更多财产权利，推进城乡公共资源均衡配置，以及建立城乡统一建设用地市场。
在过去的十年中，因征地而引发的地方政府和被征地农民间的纠纷是造成社会不稳定的一个主要因素。而农村土地制度转型恰恰是当前保护农民土地财产权益唯一可行的方法。
事实上，在某些地区，村民以出租房屋，或是转让农村用地使用权进行商品房建设的方法，从而在城市买房已经成为普遍现象。
因此，明确农村建设用地入市的合法性，并从制度上加以规范，从而使农村居民的权益可以得到更好的保护迫在眉睫。同时，也应严厉禁止将耕地用于非农业用途买卖的行为。
实行土地改革，必然要涉及各方利益，为寻找利益的平衡点，需要建立一个公平、透明的机制，并配套设计合理的制度，否则将寸步难行。
随着相关部门做出越来越多的努力以确保土地市场的平稳运行，农村土地制度改革将再次为国家的整体改革开辟道路。