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Demand for farmland protection in northeast china

Updated: 2021-03-25

"Intensive utilization of farmland in many areas of Northeast China-including planting the same species over a large area, use of heavy machinery and intensive input of chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides-has resulted in increased erosion of the soil and reduced fertility, which has threatened crop production, Zhang said.

Zhou Wei, a researcher in agricultural resources at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said large areas of farmland face problems such as acidification, salinization and soil loss due to improper practices such as the overuse of synthetic fertilizers, resulting in some farmland become unsuitable for farming.

In Northeast China, intensive farming since the 1950s has seen the organic matter content of black soil reduced to between 2.5 and 3.5 percent, down from as high as 10 percent, leading to a fall in grain yields, he said.

In addition to soil degradation, farmland in some places also faces risks from industrial pollution, and risks of being used for commercial purposes for more profit, which threatens food production.

Zhou said agricultural researchers across China have made major achievements in farmland protection over the past five years, including creating methods to improve the fertility of farmland soil in Northeast and South China, and technologies to repair acidified farmland and improve the efficiency of synthetic fertilizer use. More efforts will be made to achieve technological breakthroughs over the next five years, he said.

"A major problem facing protection of farmland in China is lack of research in the field, and related standards on farmland protection are absent," he said.

"Science and technology should play a more important role in solving problems facing farmland protection, such as farmland erosion and pollution, and providing solutions to find a balance between farmland protection and high-yielding crops."

Zhang said that in addition to more investment from the government, a farmland protection law is urgently needed."

http://epaper.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202103/25/WS605bd1a7a31099a234354e88.html