Chinese Government Expresses Continuing Concern Over Arable Land Loss

Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) Vice Minister Lu Xinshe expressed continuing concern over arable land loss at a National Conference on the Protection of Basic Agricultural Land, according to an October 24 report by the Legal Daily. Lu revealed that the central government has renewed its focus on monitoring the occupation and use of basic farmland and will require local authorities to announce and hold public hearings before they appropriate arable land in the future.

Chinese farmers feed over one-fifth of the world's population on only 7 percent of its total arable land, and Vice Minister Lu has called for efforts to protect farmland to help ensure the nation's food security. Government and Party leaders placed high priority on slowing the loss of arable land last year, enacting strict limitations on farmland seizures and new development projects in October 2004. According to October 24 reports from Xinhua and the Beijing News, 27 of the nation's provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions continue to face the problem of decreasing farmland, and 16 have farmland areas below the quota set by the nation's overall plan for land use. The Beijing News attributed the decrease in China's available arable land to illegal occupation of basic farmland and unauthorized alteration of land use plans by local authorities.

The MLR issued a "Plan for Establishing Basic Agricultural Protection Zones" on October 18 and jointly issued, along with six other government agencies, "Opinions on Further Improvements in the Protection of Basic Agricultural Land" on September 28. Both measures confirm pre-existing legal rules on land requisitions. Additionally, the October Plan provides for nationwide establishment of basic agricultural protection zones with improved farming, irrigation, and transportation facilities. The September 28 Opinions set up a five-level monitoring network to detect, correct, and punish the problem of illegal occupation of basic farmland. In separate economic analyses published on October 19 and October 12, the 21st Century Business Herald highlighted the urgency of peasants' issues and the need for the Party's 11th Five-Year Program to resolve them through further systemic changes.