2015 Tasks for Returning Farmland to Forest and Grassland and for Returning Grazing Land to Grassland Have Been Issued
On June 2, five ministries and commissions - the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the State Forestry Administration, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Ministry of Land and Resources - jointly issued the 2015 construction task of returning farmland to forest and grassland for 18 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, totaling 10 million mu, of which 9.4 million mu is for returning farmland to forest and 600,000 mu is for returning farmland to grassland.
It is learned that this year's task of returning farmland to forest and grassland is mainly arranged on non-basic farmland with a slope above 25 degrees and some severely desertified farmland. All localities are required to give priority in assigning tasks to places where the public is highly motivated, the groundwork is solid, and earlier tasks have been well implemented, and to fully respect farmers' wishes, with no forced promotion or forced return. The plots of returned farmland shall be jointly determined by the land, forestry, and agriculture departments in accordance with the latest annual land change survey results and the township (town) overall land use plan.
It is also learned that recently, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Agriculture issued the 2015 construction task for returning grazing land to grassland, which will be implemented in 13 provinces and regions including Inner Mongolia and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, with 40.11 million mu of fencing construction, 13.29 million mu of reseeding of degraded grassland, 2.415 million mu of artificial forage grassland construction, 134,000 households of barn and pen construction for confined feeding, 1.2 million mu of grassland management in karst areas, and 400,000 mu of management of degraded grassland consisting of abandoned cultivated grassland, black soil flats, and toxic and harmful grasses.
This year, the scope of returning grazing land to grassland has been expanded, with Shaanxi Province included for the first time. At the same time, pilot projects for the management of abandoned cultivated grassland, black soil flats, and degraded grassland with toxic and harmful grasses will be carried out in Gansu, Qinghai, and Xinjiang respectively.