Land protection work under scrutiny

Inspection teams have been deployed across China to evaluate how well officials have been protecting the nation's 120 million hectares of farmland, it was announced yesterday.

Stopping the erosion of arable land was made the remit of provincial governors last year, with staff from the Ministry of Land and Resources now collecting data on how successful they have been and reporting any "inappropriate use" of land.

The findings, to be released by November, will be used to help the State Council craft the land use plan for 2010, said Vice-Minister Gan Zangchun yesterday.