Beijing will complete a reform on property rights of rural collective economies in three years, making all farmers shareholders of the city's collectively-owned farming enterprises, rural affairs officials said Wednesday.

All of the 2.73 million rural residents in Beijing will become shareholders of the city's rural collective farming enterprises such as chicken farms and orchards, said Chen Tao, spokesman with the Beijing Municipal Commission of Rural Affairs, at a press conference Wednesday during the metropolis's parliamentary session.

Those companies are collectively owned by rural residents who, however, have not received dividends since the 1950s when they invested capital and means of production, such as farm tools and livestock, according to Chen.

A lack of distribution systems had largely affected farmers' desires to raise crops as well as their incomes, he said.

Meanwhile, confusion about property rights and a lack of supervision also led to the abuse of power and corruption among village chiefs.

"In the past, we did not have to ask anyone when taking money from collective enterprises, but now we have to follow the rules and report to villagers once a year," said a village cadre who refused to give his name.

To solve the problem, many local Chinese governments, including Beijing, started the property rights reform in the mid 1990s.

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