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20 Years’ Achievement—39.94 Million Mu of Farmland Converted into Forests and Grasslands
Updated:2019.09.16

  In the 20 years’ efforts of returning farmland to forests and grasslands, Sichuan Province has accumulatively converted 39.94 million mu (1 mu is around 0.067 hectare) of farmland into forests and grasslands, ranking third in the country, with an area exceeding the size of two Leshan cities. This was learned by reporters at the 20th anniversary work summary meeting of returning farmland to forests and grasslands in Chengdu on September 10.

  In response to the plan of the Party Central Committee, in the autumn of 1999, our province took the lead in assigning the pilot task of returning 3 million mu of farmland to forests. Until the end of the pilot program in 2001, our province took the lead in exploring standardized policies and systems such as "Using Food Supplies as a Form of Relief" and project management system and mechanism. At the end of 2014, our province started a new round of returning farmland to forests and grasslands again, and the construction task continues to this day.

  "Returning farmland to forests and grasslands has brought obvious ecological benefits to Sichuan," the relevant responsible person of Sichuan Forestry and Grassland Administration noted. By returning farmland to forests and grasslands, Sichuan has ended the vicious cycle of deforestation–poor harvests–continued land reclamation, turning to ecological restoration. Today, more than 69 million tons of soil can be fixed every year in the reforestation-grassland areas in Sichuan. Last year, the amount of sediment flowing into the mainstream of the Yangtze River in Sichuan decreased by 46% compared with 1998.

  The economic benefits of returning farmland to forests and grasslands are also increasingly prominent. Since 1999, the province has accumulated 43.7 billion yuan in money and grain subsidies for green project, benefiting 23.236 million people in rural areas. Monitoring shows that a total of 2.636 million poor people have been lifted out of poverty via returning farmland to forests and grasslands.

  "Returning farmland to forests and grasslands has ended the history of low output of sloping farmland, and provided a possibility for the development of diversified management in the converted areas," the relevant responsible person of Sichuan Forestry and Grassland Administration said. Farmland conversion area and impoverished area overlap highly in Sichuan. In the past 20 years, our province has explored the possibility of diversified management of farmland conversion area, taken the lead in abolishing the proportion of economic forest and public welfare forest upon reforestation, given priority to the task of returning farmland to forests and grasslands to poverty-stricken areas, and allowed the return of forests and grasslands to be managed by circulation.

  Statistics show that by the end of last year, over 30 million mu of various forest-related and grass-related industrial bases had been built on the past sloping farmland. On this basis, wood and bamboo timber, fruit, dried fruit, tea and other characteristic industries have been developed successively, and new formats such as ecological tourism and ecological health care have been explored. Monitoring shows that for many years in a row, the rate of farmers' income increase in the farmland conversion areas is higher than the average level in the whole province.

  "At present, the new round of returning farmland to forests and grasslands is still in the construction stage," the relevant responsible person of Sichuan Forestry and Grassland Administration said. In the next step, our province will further strengthen the efforts of returning farmland to forests and grasslands, and set out to improve the ecosystem quality in the farmland conversion area.

 
 
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