An incident involving the forced imposition of fees on farmers in a county of Gansu province has come to light, prompting an immediate on-site investigation by provincial authorities.

Linze County, located in Zhangye City within Gansu Province, is one of China's largest corn seed production bases. Leveraging the unique natural advantages of the Hexi Corridor, the area has developed a modern corn seed industry chain integrating research, production, processing, and sales.

On June 13, a national media outlet reported that multiple villagers had complained about being forced to pay an annual construction fee of 200 yuan per mu (approximately 0.165 acres) for a farmland improvement project. This fee was reportedly set to be deducted for a continuous period of 15 years from farmers engaged in corn seed production.

Following the report's publication on the afternoon of June 13, An Guomin, the Deputy Director of the Gansu Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, led a team to the affected villages for a field investigation. An clarified that the project in question was not a high-standard farmland construction initiative funded by central or provincial fiscal subsidies. Instead, it was a corn seed base enhancement project independently decided upon by Linze County and financed through bank loans.

An stated that during the promotion of the corn seed base construction, local authorities were suspected of misusing the name of the high-standard farmland project to forcibly impose fees on farmers. He pledged to urge Zhangye City and Linze County to promptly formulate a rectification plan and swiftly initiate corrective actions.

Following in-depth investigations among the farmers, An noted the discovery of other concerning issues. Relevant leads uncovered during the investigation have been transferred to the discipline inspection and supervision authorities for further action. The identified problems include: first, using bank loans for land leveling and improvement projects against the will of farmers; second, issues with land transfers also being conducted against the wishes of the masses; and third, inadequate policy communication at the grassroots level, leading to the imposition of unreasonable loan principal and interest payments on farmers under the guise of high-standard farmland construction.

"Since 2024, for the high-standard farmland construction projects we have implemented using national bonds, especially the water-efficient projects in the Hexi region, central and provincial fiscal investments have been sufficient to cover the construction costs. There is no longer any need to raise funds or demand labor contributions from farmers," An Guomin emphasized.

He further announced that the Gansu Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs would issue an urgent notice on June 14. This notice aims to swiftly organize agricultural departments across the province to learn profound lessons from the Linze County incident. A comprehensive inspection for similar issues will be launched province-wide to draw broader inferences and strictly prevent the forced imposition of unreasonable fees on farmers under the pretext of high-standard farmland construction.