Fertile black soil to be better protected

New farming techniques to be adopted to safeguard remaining land, improve local ecology and yields

For Fan Yuesheng, using more fertilizer does not mean greater yields from his 10 hectares of farmland, where nutrient-rich black soil has been increasingly eroded as the 55-year-old in suburban Dandong, Liaoning province, struggles to ensure a livelihood.

Like many other rural areas, young people in Fan's hometown have fled to big cities looking for jobs and the neighbors left are almost all elderly. Farming is Fan's main area of expertise.