China says farmland down close to 'critical' level

Yahoo News 17 Apr 08;

The amount of farmland in China shrank closer to critical levels last year, state press reported Thursday, amid concerns in the world's most populous country over how to contain food costs.

The rush in modern China to turn traditional farming areas into industrial zones or residential areas for expanding cities was again one of the factors behind the decline in 2007, the China Daily said, citing the land ministry.

However, the ministry said the pace of decline was slower than in previous years thanks to government efforts to curb the problem, such as cracking down on illegal land grabs by developers and local officials.

Last year, the amount of arable land fell by 40,700 hectares (100,500 acres) to 121.73 million hectares, according to the ministry.

The government has for many years warned of a critical situation when the amount of farming land fell to 120 million hectares, and it is now trying to devise ways to use what is left more efficiently.

"The aim of the plan is to better protect the limited arable land and make more efficient use of areas designated for development," the head of the ministry's planning commission, Hu Cunzhi, was quoted as saying.

Hu said 120 million hectares would continue to be regarded as the critical level, unless there was a "biological revolution" that boosted farm yields.

Declining farmland has coincided with a sharp increase in food prices in China over the past year, which has been one of the main factors behind soaring inflation.

The government said on Wednesday that food prices jumped 21 percent in the first quarter of this year, with overall inflation at 8.0 percent.

In a cabinet meeting on the same day, Chinese Premier Wen Jiaobao called for stronger efforts to rein in soaring food prices, state press reported on Thursday.

Wen said more must be done to boost the nation's farm output and warned often disobedient local governments that they must more closely follow the economic directives of the central authorities in Beijing.

"The most prominent problem in the domestic economy is that prices are still running at high levels," Wen said.

"Curbing price rises... should be put into an even more outstanding position."

Wen said boosting agricultural and grain production was one of the most pressing priorities, but did not give specifics on how this would be done.