China's farmland dwindles by 6m ha in 7 years (Xinhua) Updated: 2004-06-25 16:30
China's Land and Resources Minister Sun Wensheng Friday called on the country
to value and protect every inch of farmland, as 6.7 million hectares of arable
land, or 5 percent of the country's total, was lost to industrial development or
other purposes in the past seven years.
In a speech marking the country's 14th "Land Day", the minister said 62
percent of the 6.7-million-hectare farmland was used for ecological
conservation, namely, tree planting and grass growing, in a bid to curb soil and
water erosion.
The minister said 18 percent of the 6.7 million hectares of arable land was
no longer used for grain production but for other agricultural purposes, and 14
percent was used for construction projects, and 6 percent was destroyed by
natural calamities.
China has only 123.4 million hectares of arable land, or 0.095 hectares per
capita and less than 40 percent of the world's average, said the minister.
The minister said the gradual depletion of farmland aggravates the imbalance
of land supply and demand.
Some local governments set up too many development zones while excessive and
duplicated projects in some sectors also resulted in depletion and waste of
considerable farmland resources.
Forty million farmers lost the farmland they used to make a living during the
past two decades of industrialization to non- agricultural development projects,
and the issue became a topic of heated discussion at the meeting of China's
national legislature Thursday.
Sheng Huaren, vice chairman and secretary-general of the Standing Committee
of the National People's Congress, said those farmers were owed at least 9.88
billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) in land requisition compensation and relocation
fees.
Sheng said the farmers who lost their land might pose a threat to social
stability after they spend their limited compensation, unless something was done
to enable them to make a living.
Investigators found irregularities in land requisition might have cost the
government 20.7 billion yuan (US$2.5 billion) during the past several years.
China has delisted 4,735 development zones, or 70.2 percent of the country's
total, during a high-profile campaign to crack down on excessive and illegal use
of arable land for industrial projects since early last year.
The cancellation helped reduce land earmarked for development zones by 24,100
square kilometers, or 64.4 percent of the planned size, and 2,617 square
kilometers of farmland has been retrieved, with 1,324 square kilometers already
grown to crops, according to figures released by the ministry.
China's effort to check illegal use of land resources continued this year.
The ministry said 42,297 cases of illegal land use have been reported in the
first half of the year, and 32, 575 of them have been put under official
investigation.
The probes involved 21,689.5 hectares of land, including 13,341 hectares of
farmland, and 1,431 hectares of land has been recovered.
The minister said the government would continue rectifying the land market
and improve land-use efficiency for the balance of land supply and demand.
Last month, the Chinese government began to rectify land-use deals for
construction projects stricken over the past year, and those who are found to
violate land-use law and regulations will be punished.
Seven government departments have been involved in the campaign, including
the ministries of land and resources, finance, agriculture, construction and
supervision, and the State Development and Reform Commission and the State
Auditing Administration.
Sun said the government's strategy to contain excessive investment in steel,
cement and electrolytic aluminum projects began to pay off through curbing the
supply of land. The government will continue the policy of moderately limiting
land supply for real estate projects.
Tian Fengshan, Sun's predecessor, was sacked amid the government's
high-profile campaign to regulate the country's land market since last year, and
most localities that illegally delegated the power of approving land deals to
subordinate government departments have taken back such
rights.