Future of farmland

The toll that heavy soil pollution is taking on China's food safety should serve as a warning. Something must be done to better protect the soil of major grain-producing areas from being contaminated by possible industrial pollution.

Experts who have been monitoring soil erosion in the country for years estimate that some 10 million hectares of farmland have been contaminated because of irrigation with polluted water and overuse of fertilizers. That figure accounts for less than 10 percent of the total arable land of 122 million hectares.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection published a document on Tuesday on the issue, promising that an investigation into soil pollution will be conducted in the coming years and stricter measures taken to prevent more soil from being polluted. It also promises to push polluters out to rehabilitate the polluted arable land.

Heavy metal pollution causes 10 million tons of losses in grain output each year and contaminates another 12 million tons. Economic losses from soil erosion stand at 20 billion yuan.

Such pollution, unlike air or water pollution that can be easily seen, is not easy to detect but the harm it causes to people's health is as serious as from other pollutions.

It is quite costly to rehabilitate the arable land that has been polluted by heavy metals, according to experts. And it is also very difficult to completely eliminate the heavy metals from the polluted soil once they are mixed in it.

That soil pollution by heavy metals usually takes place in those developed regions is a reminder that underdeveloped regions must guard against similar pollution while setting up industrial projects. And severe measures must be taken to prevent polluting factories from being set up in the country's major agricultural production areas.

The coming investigation is more than necessary in finding out exactly how serious such pollution is nationwide. The investigation to be completed by year 2010, according to the document, will hopefully provide important data, which will the basis for framing relevant policies.

The document proposes that polluters should be held accountable for underground water and soil they pollute and made to pay for the rehabilitation.

A series of policies and legal codes concerning the prevention of soil pollution will hopefully be in place by the year 2015. But something must be done now to prevent arable land from being further contaminated by industrial pollutants.

(China Daily 06/19/2008 page8)