Focus on protecting farmland, ensuring food security: Chinese Premier
January 6, 2015, 5:49 am

Although the country has a red line on its cultivated area at 120 million hectares, pressure on arable land is still great, mainly due to rapid urbanization [Xinhua]

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Monday restated China’s commitment to protect agricultural land from further urban and industrial encroachment, a policy known as its “red line.”

Li said protecting farmland would ensure the country’s grain supply. For a country with such a large population, China has a shortage of farmland and the “red line” must be preserved, said Li.

The “red line” policy is part of China’s efforts to ensure it has enough farmland, water and rural labour to feed a growing urban population without having to turn to overseas markets.

Protected farmland, also known as controlled environmental agriculture, refers to farming with intensive facilities, such as green houses and aquatic farming.

“Protected agriculture is necessary and supervision should be stepped up and violations on land uses should be punished,” Li said.

Local governments should strictly protect farmland alongside rural land reform and urbanization, Li said.

Although the country has a red line on its cultivated area at 120 million hectares, pressure on arable land is still great, mainly due to rapid urbanization.

China’s rapid urbanisation has cut surplus farm labour and boosted incomes, but the government worries a dwindling rural workforce will be incapable of producing enough food to meet growing demand.

In November, China’s Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) and the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) sent out a joint notice that China will designate prime arable land near cities, believed to be prone to expropriation, as “permanent basic farmland” to safeguard food security.

14 major Chinese cities, including capital Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, will first implement the policy, while other Chinese cities will have to implement it by the end of 2016.

“Much of the high-quality arable land around large and medium-sized cities has not yet been designated as permanent basic farmland. It is a pressing problem that the expansion of cities is encroaching on prime farmland,” said the Ministry notice.

TBP and Agencies