BEIJING: More than 43 per cent of Chinese farmers in a wide-ranging study have been victims of land grabs and local governments have made huge profits in the process, state press said on Tuesday.

Land grabs have become an explosive issue in China as officials seeking to cash in on a property boom increasingly force farmers off their land to make way for construction — an issue repeatedly condemned by Premier Wen Jiabao.

In one recent protest, villagers in the wealthy southern province of Guangdong faced off with authorities for more than a week in a row over land and graft, eventually winning rare concessions.

According to the study, conducted in 17 provinces and regions by Beijing’s Renmin University and published in the 21st Century Business Herald, nearly a quarter of farmers did not receive any compensation for their land.

Almost two thirds of those surveyed who did receive compensation got a lump sum, which averaged 18,739 yuan ($3,000) per mu, a Chinese unit of land equivalent to 0.16 acres or 0.07 hectares, according to the study.—AFP