Arable land reserves continue to decline

The country's arable land bank fell by 40,700 hectares last year, to 121.73 million hectares, still above the government's 120 million "critical" mark, the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) said yesterday.

The figures were published in the 2007 National Land and Resources Communiqu. The total arable land area at the end of 2006 was 122 million hectares, the MLR report said.

Hu Cunzhi, head of the ministry's planning commission, said the figure represents the smallest annual decrease since 2001, when the arable land bank was 127.6 million hectares.