China to take tough measures to protect farmland ( 2003-11-19 21:31) (Xinhua)
The continuing decrease of
farmland and recent grain price hike in China have fully alarmed the Chinese
government about its food security, and it has vowed to take tough measures to
protect farmland from misuse.
The Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) issued a circular on Wednesday,
urging all localities to crack down on illegal use of farmland in the harshest
and fastest possible ways to ensure grain production capacity.
The move followed Sunday's announcement by the ministry that it would
investigate five major cases involving illegal use of land, in north China's
Tianjin Municipality, east China's Jiangxi Province and Shandong Province, and
northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
"The root cause of the decrease of farmland nationwide lies in the local
governments," said Wang Shiyuan, director of the MLR's General Office, who
blamed them for misuse of farmland in hot pursuit of "economic benefits", such
as setting up too many industrial parks or development zones.
"Therefore, local governments will be the key to resolving the issue," he
noted, citing the fact that in the five cases that had been revealed, local
governments were found to be directly involved in four of them.
Official statistics indicated that in 1996, China had 130 million hectares of
farmland, but the figure had dropped to only 125 million hectares by the end of
last year, a harsh reality for China's 1.3 billion people.
Guo Baoping, an official with the MLR's Law Enforcement and Supervision
Bureau, also blamed the ill-planned industrial or development zones as one of
the major causes for the drop of farmland.
He cited the fact that some such zones occupied up to 200 square kilometers
of farmland, forcing farmers to leave their homes. "What is worse, some of the
zones were never built," he said.
Guo pledged that the ministry would take more effective measures to monitor
the conditions of farmland nationwide, including using a satellite remote sensor
system.
"As soon as an act of illegal use of land is found, we will launch a swift
investigation and punish those who are responsible severely according to the
law," he noted.
Pan Wencan, director of the MLR's Planning Department, said that in the
future, the development of high-end real estate such as villas would have to go
through a strict approval process, but meanwhile, the development of affordable
housing would be encouraged.
He especially pointed to the fact that no farmland would be approved for
non-farming use unless the farmers agreed.
Earlier this year, five departments of the central government, including the
ministry, launched a nationwide crackdown on illegal transfer of land.
A total of 168,000 cases involving illegal use of land have been handled so
far this year, twice as much as the same period of last year.
